Siren's Song
by Tegeslach
Summary: Kalli and her best friend Doru go to Romania to find his family. The Siren hadn't thought that she might find people there who accept her as she is. Something her own family never could. Maybe Doru isn't the only one to find out where he truly belongs.
1. Chapter 1

So, I give in. I've had this story (or at least the basic idea of it) running havoc in my mind for several months now. Seeing as it currently keeps me from writing an original story I saw no other way to silence the nagging voice in my head than to write it down. And to keep me writing the story once it is started I decided to post it here, hoping someone out there might enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: Well, obviously the Carpathians and everything about them and their back story doesn't belong to me. The Sirens and the Rhinedragons as well as Doru however, have all found their way into this world through my (right now quite annoying) mind ;)

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**__**16 years ago**_

"I've never seen you here before." Doru turned around hastily and stared at the little girl that had spoken to him. She was still a baby, he could tell. Her dark hair framed a soft round face with huge dark eyes, a tiny snub nose and a frowning little mouth.

Her hands rested on her hips as she stood there with her head tilted to the side. She looked him up and down as though he was something she had never seen. Then again, he probably was.

"Do you understand me?" she asked him when he didn't respond to her initial remark. Now it was his turn to frown. Did she take him for an idiot?

"Why shouldn't I understand you?"

The little girl shrugged her shoulders and narrowed her eyes at him.

"You just look...exotic." she finally decided. Doru's frown deepened at that. He scoffed irritable at her and turned away from the girl, ready to walk back to the house. But a little hand reached for the sleeve of his shirt.

"Please, wait. I didn't mean to make you angry. I... I'm not like most of the other people myself." the last part of the sentence was only a small whisper in the darkness. Doru turned back around to the girl and pulled his arm free from her grasp.

"I'm not exotic. I'm totally normal. And you don't look different to the other people around here either."

The little girl didn't answer but her lips pressed together in a thin line.

"You shouldn't be out here this late. A baby like you should already be in bed!"

Her little chin came out and she made a step towards him.

"I'm not a baby! I'm almost six! And you aren't that much older!"

"I'm nine." Doru threw his shoulders back in an attempt to make himself appear taller.

"That's not that much older! My sister is nine, too." Doru scoffed at her. What did she knew. She was only a little child while he was almost a teenager. And he was a boy. Of course he knew better than her. And he would tell her that right now.

"Kalli? Kalli were are you? Papa wants you to come back in." Doru stood there with his mouth hanging open as he saw another girl walking around the corner. She was a bit taller than the girl in front of him, but not by much. And where the little girl was darkness, the newcomer was light. Her skin almost translucent, her hair shimmering in a tone between silver and gold, even in the light of the setting sun.

Kalli didn't turn as she heard her sisters voice calling for her. She stayed as she was, glaring up at the new neighbouring boy. And she saw what she always saw at people's faces when they saw Ley for the first time. Absolute awe. She knew her sister was pretty. Of course she was. But it sure became tiresome to talk to people only to have them stop listening once Ley was near. So she did the first thing that came to her mind to get the boy's attention back: she kicked him against his shin.

Doru screamed as the little hellcat kicked his shin. What was she still doing there? Before he could yell at her, the blonde girl had caught the younger one's hand and was pulling her away from him without so much as passing him a glance. Doru rubbed his throbbing shin while he glared after the two girls before he walked back into the house.

***

The next evening, Doru was playing in the garden with a plastic sword his foster father had given him that day. He was fighting with hundreds of invisible opponents at one, gloriously defeating them all.

"So? Where _do_ you come from?" Doru snapped around and the plastic sword hit the apple tree he was standing under. Luckily for him the apples weren't ripe yet or he might have caught one of them on his head.

"What do you want?" he growled at the troublesome child from the day before. She had climbed over the small fence that surrounded the garden and was leaning against it.

"I thought we could be friends." Doru had to laugh at that.

"Do you always kick your friends?"

"I don't have any friends." she told him as though she was merely talking about the weather.

"Wonder why." Doru muttered and glared at her.

"Because I'm not pretty as Ley is."

"What?" The little girl shrugged and sighed.

"Ley is beautiful. Of course people want to be her friend and not mine. I had thought … but you have seen Ley already. You don't want to be my friend either." Doru saw her shoulders slump. Before he could even try to understand her she had already made her way back over the fence and was running away.

He told himself, that it was better that way. He didn't want to be friends with a baby. Especially not such a weird one. So he went back to practice sword fighting until his foster mother called him inside for dinner.

He didn't see the strange girl for the next weeks. Then one evening, he saw her sitting on the meadow behind his foster parents' garden. She had her back to him and her head was bowed. Doru told himself he should just let her be, but he couldn't bring himself to let her sit there alone in the cold twilight. He sighed heavily and slowly made his way to her side.

"You didn't have to come here. I just wanted to be alone and I know my family won't come here. " she told him softly once he stood next to her. She didn't lift her head but he saw that her cheeks and nose were bright red and puffy.

"Why are you crying?" he asked uncomfortable and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

"Because I'm stupid." Doru frowned. What kind of reasoning was that? As though she could read his mind she sniffled and started to explain.

"I though, that maybe, one day, they would see that I'm not so bad. I know I'm not right, but I could be worse. Or at least, I had thought so. But I was wrong. I heard them talking about me. About how wrong I am. They think I'm a punishment for them." Doru was taken aback at what he heard. This girl had either the scariest imagination or a real fucked up family.

"I look like my father, but I'm a girl! I should look like Mama and Ley." she said as though that would explain everything.

"There are other girls that look more like their fathers than their mothers." Doru argued and crouched down in the grass.

"But they aren't like us. They are normal. They aren't..." Kalli clapped her hands on her mouth and looked at him with wide eyes. She had almost let it slip. Had almost given her families secret away to a stranger. Fresh tears gathered in her eyes. No wonder her family thought her a failure. She was one.

Doru's heart clenched as he watched her dark head burrowed in her hands as she cried anew. Awkwardly he reached his hand out and stroke her trembling shoulder.

"I'm sure you misunderstood them." he told her and hoped she would stop crying. Instead she threw herself into his arms and cried against his chest. Doru sat there completely shocked. Not knowing what he was supposed to do with the crying child. He had seen people stroking the crying child's back at such an occasion and decided, that he could at least try it. But just as he was about to bring his hand on her back was she suddenly pulled away from him. Doru looked up at the tall man looming above him.

The look the man gave him was enough to make him scramble back his feet. Now that he was able to get a better look at the huge man he could see the resemblance between him and the girl. They both had the same dark hair, an undefinable mixture between red, brown and black and the same dark brown eyes. But where the girl's face was all softness the man's looked like it was made of stone.

"Kallianassa, you were told not to wander around alone." the booming voice of the man scolded the child which he held on one arm like a rag doll. Like her sister he didn't even glance at Doru as he pulled his struggling daughter away.

Doru had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't eat that evening at dinner, his stomach not able to keep anything inside while his thoughts were with the little girl – Kallia_something_. A strange name she had. But then, Doru wasn't that common around here either. But his name was all he had from his past.

His foster mother put her hand on his face and checked his temperature, worried, that he might come down with the flu. She send him to bed early and Doru went without arguing. His dreams were troubling. Again and again he saw the huge man pulling the fragile little girl away and him standing behind and doing nothing. He _had_ done nothing. But he should have done something. He should have protected her. Annoying or not, she didn't deserve to be treated so harshly.

"I'm not annoying. And you couldn't have done anything." Doru whirled around and saw the girl standing before him. Her hair was up in a complicated hairdo and she was wearing a silvery princess dress.

"You like it?" she asked him and made a pirouette before him.

"What... what are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"Of course it is. Otherwise I couldn't be in your dreams."

Doru frowned and looked around. He was still standing on the meadow but it was the middle of the night. The full moon was shining brightly down on them.

"I'm dreaming you?"

"No. I'm in your dreams. But you didn't bring me here. I came on my own."

"You can go into other people's dreams?!" Doru took several steps away from her. This was a really weird dream.

"Why are you surprised? You should know about … being able to do things others can't. You can too. Well, not dreamwalk, but I've seen in your mind that you can do some things others can't. And there are things you can't do that others can. You can't bear the bright sun. You aren't normal either, right?" Her voice was soft and not the least bit teasing or mean. Doru sighed heavily and let himself fall down onto the grass.

"I don't know what I am. I was found as a baby and brought to an orphanage. All I know is my name." he pulled out the wooden cross from where it hang on the leather band underneath his pyjama top.

"I can't read yet." she reminded him.

"My name is Doru. Doru Lupei." The girl sat slowly down next to him and looked at him for some time before speaking.

"That doesn't sound German."

"It's Romanian. But there was no sign of any relatives."

"They aren't your parents?"

Doru shook his head as he thought about his foster parents.

"No, but I wish they were."

"They love you."

Doru looked at her as she stated this and flinched. Parents didn't seem to be a good thing to speak about after what he had seen earlier this evening.

"Your name doesn't sound German either." he said instead. She shook her head.

"It's Greek. I'm named after a water nymph."

"Your name is complicated." Doru decided and looked up at the moon.

"Kallianassa?" the girl shrugged her shoulders. "You can call me Kalli." With a small smile she added "I always wanted to say my friends may call me that."

Doru turned his eyes to her and watched her for several moments.

"You seem older than almost six. When you speak like this, I mean." Kalli nodded and angrily put a streak of hair behind her ear that fluttered before her eyes.

"So do you. It's because we are different."

"What _are_ you?"

Kalli bit her lip and looked away. Suddenly a river appeared a few metres away from them dividing the meadow. Laughter could be heard from the water and as Doru leaned a bit forward he saw women smiling at him from the river. When he saw that they weren't wearing anything he frowned at Kalli. But she just pointed back at the scene at the river. A large dark Dragon flew over it and the women in the water laughed joyfully up at the large creature.

Doru frowned as the scene disappeared.

"So... where that mermaids? Are you a mermaid?" Kalli nodded slowly and pulled her legs close, resting her head on her knees.

"Partly. And partly a Dragon."

"A Dragon?"

"Yes, normally, the girls born will become mermaids. They are all beautiful. Light hair and eyes and skin and wonderful voices. The boys are darker and become a Dragon once they grow up. I'm wrong. I look like a Dragon, not like a mermaid. That's why they are so disappointed. I'm not right. I'm not pretty and though I love to sing, it's nothing compared to what my sister's voice sounds."

"You are pretty." Doru murmured. Kalli considered this for several moments before a smile grew on her face.

"Thank you." They sat in silence for the rest of the night and when morning came Doru found himself reluctant to wake up. But Kalli promised him to visit his dreams again, if he allowed it. He hadn't wanted her as a friend, and yet Doru found himself unable to keep the little girl that was so different from other as he was from worming her way into his heart.

***

_**10 years ago**_

A desperate knock on his bedroom door caused Doru to put the atlas aside and to rise from the bed where he had been lying on. It was early afternoon. A time he had been spending inside for the past five years. His intolerance for sunlight had become worse the older he had become.

As he now opened the door he saw his best friend standing before him, shaking all over her body.

"Kalli, what's wrong?" he ushered her into the room and made her sit on the bed, putting a blanket around her shoulders although it was August. But Kalli didn't answer him. She only shook her head and looked at him pleadingly. As though she was willing him to understand her without words. But he couldn't.

"Kalli, talk to me. Have they done something? Have they said something bad again?" One day he would go to her family and send them all to hell. The older Kalli had become, the worse had her family reacted to her. Had she been looked down upon as a little child they were now almost ignoring her completely. She had passed her twelfth birthday without changing into a Dragon. She hadn't even made _that_. The last year had been hell for her, and he hadn't been able to do anything but hold her and tell her it would one day be better.

Kalli shook her head again and left the bed to go toward his desk. Looking around at the chaos on the desk of a fifteen year old boy she finally grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and hastily began to scribble something. After what seemed like an eternity to Doru she handed him the paper and looked at him expectantly.

Doru frowned down at what she had written.

_It changed. My voice. Well, I don't think it changed, I still sound the same to me, but not to others. They react. My voice is like Ley's or Mama's. I can never speak to anybody again without all men acting crazy around me. It was better when I hadn't any change than that!_

Kalli stood there before him, wringing her hands as he read with excruciating slowness. He let the paper down slowly and looked up at her. As Doru stood up and made a step towards her Kalli shook her head and made a step back.

"Kalli. Let me help you. Please. We can will go away. We will just..." Kalli shook her head vehemently and went to the desk again. She hastily wrote something down and held the note out to him.

_I can't ever talk to you again! You will act just like everyone else. I couldn't stand it. Not from you. _

Doru saw the pain on her face as the words of the note sank in.

"No. Kalli. You're not going to pull back completely because of this. You hear me? I'm not letting this happen." Doru had his hands on Kalli's shoulders and kept her from leaving the room.

"Talk to me." Kalli let her head hang low and simply shook her head over and over again. Her long dark curls were covering her face completely.

"Kalli. You've been inside my head almost every night in the past six years. You know me better than that."

Kalli felt the fear growing inside of her as she thought about losing her best, her only friend. Forever. To think that years ago she had wished for this gift. But without the looks of a Siren her voice was nothing but a farce. Kalli had always been a shadow, invisible to those around her when her mother or Ley were around. She had been sad then. Now she was still invisible, not worth noticing. Unless she opened her mouth and spoke or even worse: sang. Then she suddenly was surrounded by men searching her attention. Men who normally wouldn't spare her a second glance. Her voice wasn't a gift. It was a curse.

But Doru didn't understand. Didn't believe it could be so bad. She had to prove him. Had to _speak_. And then she would lose him forever. Because she would run away from him as fast as possible and never come back.

She took a deep breath and whispered his name, not daring to speak louder. It was enough. It would happen any moment now. His eyes would change. He would look at her as though she was food to a starving man. Kalli winced when Doru but his hand on her cheek and pulled her head up to look at him.

"Kalli, it's okay. It won't change a thing. I'm always here for you. I promise." Kalli frowned. This couldn't be.

"How do I sound to you? How do I look to you?" she pressed out between sobs. She had her hands flat on his chest and they were shivering awfully right now.

"Like always. Like Kalli."

More sobs erupted her throat as she threw her arms around his neck. Doru put his arms around her smaller form and just let her cry her heart out.

"How can this be. Why don't you react like everyone else?" Doru stroke slowly through her long hair.

"I thought we had established a long time ago that neither of us is like all the others." Kalli let out small laugh. Doru was still there. She hadn't lost the only person who had ever really cared for her. The only family she had. She could talk with him. As she always had. Just around all the others would she be mute. But that was okay. She had her best friend.

Kalli dried her tears but stayed a bit longer in Doru's embrace. She just needed that right now. To know that there was someone there.

"What were you doing." she asked after some time and pulled slowly away.

"Ah, just looking around in the atlas."

"Found your dream?"

"No. It's harder than I thought. Those glimpses you found there," he tabbed his forehead with his finger "leave to much open to give me anything concrete."

"We'll find it. We'll find out where your parents were from. Together."

"The two musketeers." Doru grinned at her and was glad to see her laugh at that.

"Yeah, the two musketeers."

***

_**Today**_

"Loreley, Kallianassa, come here, your grandmother has arrived." The contempt their mother felt for her mother-in-law was obvious as she called her daughters. The sisters made their way out of the house to greet their grandmother. While Ley was almost dancing in her movements, Kalli was moving more slowly, dreading to face yet another relative who would be disappointed in her.

A stunningly beautiful woman awaited them in the courtyard. Although Kalli knew her grandmother had already lived almost a millennium she didn't appear to be older than a middle-aged human woman. Her hair had the soft golden tone of the Sirens and her skin was the palest white ever seen. She was kissing Ley on both her cheeks and praised her beauty as Kalli stopped a few feet away from them.

Her grandmother's gaze met hers and she beckoned the younger woman to come to her.

"Kallianassa, come here." her voice was sweet and melodious, strong enough to even make another Siren do her bidding. Kalli hesitantly stepped closer to her elder.

"Don't fear me child. You are of my blood, I do not wish you harm." The old Siren whispered to Kalli as she took her hands in her own and kissed her granddaughter's cheeks.

"Show me to my quarters, will you?" Before Kalli could so much as think about answering her grandmother pulled her into the house with her. Ley, not to be left behind hurried to keep up with them.

Her grandmother was nothing what Kalli had imagined. She didn't have any traces of her father's fierceness or her mother's haughtiness. She was the kindest and sweetest woman Kalli had ever met. And though she was reluctant to do so, Kalli sang with her the old songs of the Sirens and her grandmother praised her voice to be one of the most beautiful voices she had ever heard.

She didn't get along very well with Kalli's mother and it brought her seemingly endless joy to aggravate her whenever she could. And most often she didn't even have to try hard to do so. As this day at the dinner table.

"You're late again, Kallianassa." Kalli's mother reprimanded her as she ran into the dining room just as the dinner was set on the table.

"I'm sorry Mama."

"Oh, leave her alone. She is not a little child. If I understand it correctly, she has passed her twentieth summer already, have you not?" Kalli nodded at her grandmother's question and replied that she was twenty-three.

"That doesn't mean she should hang around this human man so much. Even less so, seeing as she is grown up now."

"Human man?"

"It's not like that with Doru and you know that Mama."

"I ask again, what human man?" Her grandmother's fingers was soft on Kalli's hand in an attempt to get her attention.

"He isn't exactly human. Like we aren't. Doru is a friend. Nothing more." she hastily added the last part as she saw her grandmother's eyes sparkle.

"He is like a brother to me." Her father scoffed at that and put his glass harshly onto the table.

"I told you before to stay away from him."

Kalli bowed her head and remained silent. It would only get her in trouble would she say something now. But her grandmother wouldn't have any of that.

"I want to know about this young man."

"Eistla. Please, we are trying to keep her away from such people, not encourage her to seek them out."

"Lau, I'm aware you are my son's wife and my granddaughters' mother, that doesn't mean however, that I let myself be silenced by you." Her grandmother squeezed Kalli's hand slightly.

"Go on, tell me about your friend."

Hesitantly, Kalli started to tell her Doru's story. That he was an orphan who had been raised by foster parents in the neighbourhood. That he had pictures of wild landscapes in his mind, buried very deep and barely conscious. How they had tried for years now to find out where exactly in Romania his parents had been from. That he had started to learn Romanian to be able to travel to the country of his origin and maybe find some relatives.

While she spoke her parents stopped eating altogether and while Ley and her grandmother listened intently, Kalli's mother blanched with every word Kalli said. At one point she shoved her chair away from the table with a screeching sound and arose.

Three pairs of eyes flew to her mother while Kalli's grandmother's gaze rested on Kalli's face, lost in thought.

"So they do still exist."

"Eistla!" Kalli's mother jerked around sharply in another attempt to silence her mother-in-law. But the older Siren was not intimidated by that.

"Who? Whom are you talking about?" Ley asked her grandmother, hoping to hear some fascinating story, not caring what her mother thought. She wouldn't be angry at her anyway.

"The Carpathians."

"EISTLA!"

"Oh, stop you yelling. Your sister was happy with her lifemate. But you could never understand that."

"What is a lifemate?"

"Ley, not you too."

"The Carpathians are as old as our own people. Like we do, they appear completely human. And like us, they aren't." Kalli's mother let out a frustrated yell and slammed her hands onto the table.

"If this human isn't human but a vampire it is all the more reason for Kalli to stay away from him. We have finally managed to find a Dragon who is willing to take her as his wife even though she is inadequate. I will not have her disgrace our family by spending time with such a beast."

Kalli's grandmother calmly sipped from her glass while she listened to the younger woman's screaming.

"You do know that they aren't vampires."

"They drink blood! I don't care what they call themselves, I don't care if they claim that only a few of them _turn_. They are all the same savage beasts."

Kalli's mind raced. She wasn't even listening any longer at what the other women were yelling about. A Dragon. To take her as his wife. She didn't want to marry. Certainly not some Dragon who had _lowered_ himself into a marriage with her. Without another word she arose from her chair and left the room. She was sure her parents were yelling at her to sit back down but she couldn't. Not now. She left the house through the back door and made a few shaking steps. Her heart slammed in her chest. Thoughts whirled in her head. Her body felt to small all of a sudden.

She slipped out of her shoes and left them by the house as she ran through the grass, feeling the wet blades against her bare skin. As she ran she took her clothes off one at a time. It was the least she could do when she would have wanted to shed her skin like a snake could. She reached the small lake which had been reason for her parents to live here and jumped head first into it.

Being in the water. Being one with the water helped. But only a little. She came up to the surface and screamed into the darkness. All her life had she been aware of her failure and she was sick of it. And now it poured out of her. It all came out in the one way all Siren's dealt with such emotions. Her voice rose clear and loud to the sky. For once she didn't care if anyone could hear her.

"_I don't know who I am. _

_Where else shall I go to, I'm afraid. _

_It's deep inside of me._

_Sometimes I cry silently, can you understand me._

_No one answers me when I ask_

_What I'm allowed to desire. _

_The sky is black now, the sky is empty now, _

_I look up and see no stars anymore."_

"Maybe you need some time away from your family."

Kalli spun around in the water to see her grandmother standing at the edge of the lake. She slowly swam back to the shore and sat down in the grass as her grandmother crouched down beside her. The older Siren stroke through Kalli's hair and wrapped her in the towel she had brought with her.

"I had always hoped I had raised your father right. I fear now, I should have done better than I have." Kalli remained silent as her grandmother gently dried her back.

"If your friend really is Carpathian, he needs to go back there to find his family. You could go with him. Look at it as some kind of holiday."

"And when I come back they'll marry me off to some Dragon and for the rest of my life I can listen to my _beloved husband_ calling me unworthy." Her grandmother stopped in her stroking movements and regarded the young woman before her. How could her parents have been so cold and harmful to her.

"You look a lot like your grandfather."

Kalli scoffed at that. Of course she did. It was part of her problem.

"I loved that Dragon dearly. I could never hate someone who looked so much like him. And you know, he was also very determined. Had he made up his mind, no one could make him change it again. I hope that passed onto you as well, Kallianassa. Don't let them hurt you anymore."

"Why is Mama so against those Carpathians?" Kalli tried to change the subject, but her grandmother let it pass and sat down beside her.

"I'm not sure. Your aunt was different. Although they were raised together, were even twins, they turned out so differently. Fionnuala was very open-minded. Never had she raised her voice at anyone. She was kind and loving and caring. Sometimes I think your mother was jealous of her. The Carpathian Males would do anything for their lifemates. Their happiness and safety is most important to them. Your parent's marriage wasn't a love match." She looked out over the dark surface of the lake and let it all sink into her granddaughter's mind.

"Kalli, should you ever need my help, know that I'll be there for you. Should you not like this Dragon, I won't let them give you to him. That I swear by the seven seas." Kalli looked grateful up at her grandmother and leaned against her warm embrace.

"Thank you."

"And now to your friend again. I will write down the Places I remember the Carpathians lived in centuries ago. I can't tell you where they are today. Up until this evening I thought they had all been killed long ago. Let's hope your friend isn't the only survivor."

The two Sirens continued to sit at the shore for some more time before they made their way back home. Kalli had already decided what she would do. She would take her grandmother's advice and help Doru find his relatives. She hastily threw some clothes into a rucksack and took the list of town and village names her grandmother had given her. While her parents were fast asleep she slipped out of the house and made her way to Doru's.

His foster parents had died two years ago, leaving the twenty-five year old alone in the big house. He worked as a translator, so he wouldn't have to leave the house in the morning and stay out the entire day. Kalli knew he loved the night-time and as she had expected there was still light on in his bedroom. She gathered some small stones from the garden and started throwing them at his window. After the third stone the window opened and Doru glared down at her.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Time to leave!"

"What?!"

"I'll explain, just let me in. You need to start packing." Perplexed Doru starred down at his friend and after some more ushering from her complied and came downstairs to open the door for her. On their way back up to his room she told him about her grandmother and what she had told her about the Carpathians. She also shoved the list in his face as she pulled an old rucksack down from where it lay on top of his armoire.

"Hurry, back together what you need. We have to leave now. We have to get as far as possible before my parents notice me gone." Doru just looked at her as though she was some alien talking a foreign language and so Kalli took it upon herself to open his armoire and stuff some clothes into the rucksack, while telling him about the marriage her parents were planning.

"Hey, you think you can put your underwear in here on your own?" Doru snapped back into reality and pulled the rucksack out of Kalli's hands.

"Do you really think this is true? That your grandmother is right?" He didn't dare hope yet. So long he had been searching for his identity. Could it really be that he finally had the chance of finding his origin?

"Only one way to find out. Hope your car's tank if full."Kalli paced around in his room while Doru finished packing.

"You want us to _drive_ all the way to Romania?"

"Of course not. We have to drive to the nearest airport and get a plane to Bucharest. And there we will rent a car and look for these places." Kalli stepped up to Doru and took his face into her hands.

"If your family is out there, we will find it. The musketeers, remember?"

And so they drove away, leaving all that they knew behind them in the middle of the night for a journey east with a barely known destination.

* * *

Lyrics: Purple Schulz – Ich will raus – Sehnsucht '99


	2. Chapter 2

I'm glad I've received such positive feedback for the first chapter. And here is the second. I will try to keep Saturday as the day to post updates. Hope you enjoy the next installment.

* * *

"Hey, we're here." Doru lightly shook Kalli's shoulder to wake her up as the plane landed. They grabbed their rucksacks from out the storage area above their seats and left the plane together with the other passengers. Doru put the hood of his sweatshirt deep into his face and let Kalli lead him into the airport building. Unfortunately the only flight to Bucharest had been one at 9 am the time on the plane and the one hour time difference only made the sun stand higher on the sky now.

Once they had passed the ID controls they headed immediately to the nearest car rental agency they could find at the airport. While Doru handled the rental of a Jeep Kalli couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched. But where ever she looked there was no one to be seen who took any notice of them.

"You ready?" Doru asked, folding some papers together and putting them into his pocket. Kalli nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. They waited next to the doors of the airport for the car to be brought up from the garage before heading out.

"So, where to now?" Doru asked as they were alone in the car.

"The list my grandmother gave me is of places she remembered from centuries ago. I could only find one of them on the map so I'd say, we go there. If the other places have been renamed or do no longer exist nowadays, I'm sure we will find out there."

They drove for about four hours, stopping once just out of Bucharest where Kalli went and bought something for lunch for both of them. Finally they reached the place Kalli's grandmother had written down. Doru stopped the car and asked a young boy who was running past the car about a hotel or something alike.

An hour later Doru let his rucksack fall down on one of the twin beds in their room. With Kalli playing mute again with people being around everywhere he had checked them in as siblings at the small inn, not wanting to cause a scene with the innkeeper.

"So, how are we going to find out if anybody knew my parents? I can hardly describe them."

"We have your name, if we're lucky there aren't that many families whose name is Lupei. We should probably start with asking the Innkeeper. Or rather, you will ask her. I'm hungry anyway. Let's get down and get some dinner." Doru lead the way downstairs. He couldn't shake the giddiness he was feeling at being here. Since they had left the plane and people everywhere were speaking Romanian he fought the urge to put a big grin on his face. Although he didn't remember it consciously, this was his home country. And maybe he even had some relatives still alive who would welcome him back.

They sat at a table in the corner of the room, leaving enough empty space between them and the next patrons. While Doru spoke with the female innkeeper, Slavica, if Kalli remembered her name correctly, she was watching the other people in the room. Besides her and Doru there were only five other guests sitting at the tables. Closest to them sat a young couple, a pretty blonde women and a brown haired man who were looking lovingly at each other. As they had passed them Kalli had heard them whisper to each other in French and the sturdy clothes they were wearing let her assume that they were here for a hiking trip or something similar.

At another table two older men were seated, locals by the looks of them and if Kalli placed the language they spoke correctly. The last visitor was sitting alone at a table, shifting nervously around in his seat. He varied the movement of his left hand between running it through his sandy hair or over his face. He was sweating although this summer hadn't been particularly hot in Europe, and this late summer evening wasn't any different. Every now and then he was looking over his shoulder, probably waiting for someone to meet him here. Kalli bit her lip to keep from smiling. Maybe he had a date and was nervous about it. She noticed how his right hand was buried deep in the side pocket of his brown leather jacket.

"I ordered you tea and the veggie soup, was that okay?"

Kalli turned around and smiled at Doru's question. A small nod was the only reply she gave him. Then she frowned slightly and gesticulated with her hands in front of her. When Doru looked away, so as to not see what she was doing, she slapped his arm and made the movements again.

"No. I did not ask her." He hissed in answer to her question.

_Why not?_ Kalli signed with her hands. Doru silently cursed himself for agreeing to go to a course with her where they had learned the sign language.

"I can't just ask her if she knows my family." He insisted and hastily looked around as though he was afraid anyone had heard him. Kalli raised her eyebrows at him and smiled sweetly at him. She pushed her chair back very slowly and arose from her seat.

"Kalli, no. You can't…" Doru tried to hold her back she easily avoided his hand and walked towards the counter behind which the innkeeper, Slavica, was standing. Kalli made a writing motion with her hand as the woman looked up at her and a moment later she had a piece of paper and a pen sitting before her. Hastily she wrote three sentences on the paper, one in German, English and French, hoping the woman would understand one of them. She turned the paper around on the counter, so the innkeeper could read it.

"Yes I do speak English. How can I help you?" Kalli sighed relieved and took the paper back.

_Do you know a family __Lupei__? _

Slavica read and frowned slightly then shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry, there's no family of that name living here." She saw Kalli's face falling as she inclined her head in a thank you gesture. As Kalli was about to make her way back to her table, Slavica held her back.

"Why are you asking?" Kalli bit her lip, wondering how much she could give away. Finally she decided for the shortest version.

_We're searching for family_. She wrote, remembering just in time that she was supposed to be Doru's sister here. Slavica's face showed her pity at not being able to help the two of them as she read this.

"What made you think you would find them here?" she asked the younger woman gently. Kalli reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the list of places her grandmother had given her. She handed the list to Slavica and watched the other woman's face as she read the names written there.

"I remember two of these names. There were villages in this area that bore them. But that was long ago. I only know them because my own grandmother came from one of them. They were given up even before the Second World War. And I've never heard from any of the others. Although… I think that third name here was also a village, or rather a small settlement here, I think I've read that somewhere before. The names here are very old." She mused and Kalli could actually see the innkeeper thinking.

"You are sure your family is from here? From one of these places?" Kalli looked back towards the table at which Doru sat alone, not daring to watch the conversation of the two women. Kalli turned back to Slavica and nodded slowly.

"Maybe… I could ask a friend of mine, he knows more about the history than I do. I will call him and ask him, is that okay?" Kalli nodded excitedly. She welcomed any help that was offered right now. Maybe Slavica's friend, even if he didn't know any more about Doru's family itself might have some idea where they could find help. It was worth a try.

Kalli took Slavica's hands in her own and squeezed them in thanks before she hurried back to Doru. Again she slapped his arm to get his attention and swiftly explained what Slavica had told her through the sign language. Doru didn't look as happy as Kalli had hoped he'd be at the prospect of getting help in their search. Her own smile faded.

_You do want to find them, right?_

Doru nodded slowly and sighed heavily.

"What if they don't want to be found? My parents for whatever reason felt the need to leave this place. Maybe they weren't welcome anymore." Kalli put her hands on top of Doru's and smiled gently at him. Even without words or hand signs was he able to understand the encouragement she wanted to give him. Doru smiled back at her and went back to watching the other guests. Kalli followed his example. She noticed that the nervous guy was no longer sitting alone at the table. A tall blond man had sat down opposite him and they were speaking in hushed voices, constantly glancing over their shoulders. The looks they shoot around at every person in the room made the hair on Kalli's neck rose.

"Here is your tea and the soup." Slavica appeared next to their table and put the tray down. "I hope you like it." She poured each a cup of tea and put the pot down on the middle of the table.

Kalli was grateful to be finally able to drink something again and hastily downed the entire cup. She should have remembered to buy an extra bottle of water at the stop that afternoon. But she had been too lost in her thoughts to even think about providing herself with enough liquid.

Doru raised his eyebrows at her and shoved the teapot slightly towards her.

"Thirsty?" he asked grinning at her and earned himself a scowl. Kalli refilled her cup and took another sip, though this time much slower. It tasted odd. Somehow wrong. Not like it was supposed to taste. But maybe that was just due to the foreign country. She was just highly sensitive to water and could taste the tiniest difference in it. It would pass and she would get used to it, she was sure.

Kalli reassured herself of that as she ate the soup. She watched Doru discreetly but he didn't seem to notice anything and finished his soup in record time. That boy had always had a ravenous appetite. She forced herself to finish her dinner and was glad that she didn't have to speak as Slavica asked them whether they had liked it.

Later that night, while their bodies were sound asleep in their beds, Kalli and Doru met in his dream. Like they did in most of his dreams, they sat on the meadow behind his house, watching the night sky and talked about things they didn't dare to talk about when others were listening in on them.

"You are happy to be here." It wasn't a question. Kalli was stating a fact she knew very well by being inside Doru's dream. One was never as vulnerable as when they dreamt. This was when their emotions were on open display.

"It feels right to be here." Doru said and smiled, finally letting the giddiness show he had felt the entire day. "Like this is where I should have been all along. And yet…" A shadow fell over his face as a cloud moved before the moon.

"Don't try to hide from me Doru, I know you too well. You fear they won't want you, but you have no reason to think so. Should there be relatives of you alive, they will be happy to find you're alive and well." Kalli leaned her head against Doru's shoulder and looked up at the sky. The cloud was keeping its position in front of the full moon and Kalli frowned.

"Sing something, will you?"

"What do you want to hear?" she asked softly, the frown still on her face as she looked at the heavy cloud.

"I don't know. Anything." Kalli closed her eyes and let her mind drift through Doru's memory. The subconscious ones. Those of his earliest days that he couldn't really remember. She couldn't get a good look at faces or scenes, she saw fragments, heard bits and pieces of conversations, but nothing whole. Safe for the emotions. In Doru's memories was so much Love from his parents and for his parents. So much trust and the feeling of belonging, of not being alone.

She gathered those emotions and turned them into words. Loving and caring words. About a family and a home where one could always return to.

She felt him drift deeper into his mind. The cloud in front of the moon dissolved. But so did now the moon itself. And slowly after this, the rest of the scenery disappeared from her view. Doru's mind drifted away to a dreamless sleep. A place not even she could follow. The last thing she saw in his memory before Doru closed himself off completely was a pair of deep green eyes which tugged at her heart. Those lost, empty eyes.

Kalli awoke with a start and sat upright in bed. Her heart was beating loud in her chest. She reached with her right hand to cover her aching heart, as though this could help her, trying to slow it down. A look to her right told her that Doru was still fast asleep, a peaceful expression on his face. Kalli ran a shaking hand through her hair and pushed the covers away from her. Her legs trembled as she left the bed and went to the window to look out at the full moon.

Those eyes had branded themselves through her heart deep into her soul and wouldn't leave her alone. Not even now, when she was wide awake. In the distance she could hear a wolf calling to its pack. Kalli felt goose pimples forming on her skin and rubbed her arms. She felt unsettled, not ready yet to go back to bed but also afraid to go out of the room alone. The wolf outside in the woods received answering calls from his brothers and sisters and Kalli decided that maybe going back to bed wasn't such a bad idea after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry, I wanted to update yesterday, but FF . net is picky with the uploading right now, and against my hope it didn't work today either, so I had to work around that. But now, without further delay here's the next chapter. It was time to show the other side ;)

* * *

Damyan Velichkov soared silently through the night sky; the full moon shining behind him illuminated the ground beneath his owl form. As he saw the forest coming closer he dashed forward, falling rapidly towards the ground and changing in the last possible moment.

Now he was running through the thick forest underground in the form of a wolf. His fur as black as the trees he was passing by. His legs carried him fast to his destination. One last time he would meet his prince. Then he would go to meet the dawn. There was nothing else left for him to do. He had failed his family. Everyone who had believed in him had died and he hadn't been able to extract the vengeance and justice they deserved. He howled loudly as he called to his people in this area with his mind, announcing his arrival.

Faster and faster he ran, dodging a root or crouching beneath some branches on the way. One last request he had. And this was the only reason he had come here at all. His family was still not avenged. And Damyan had finally accepted that it wouldn't be him who would do so. Someone else would have to defeat the murderer of his parents and his sister. He was too far gone. He knew it. Had known it for some time now, always trying to be strong and fight on.

But two days ago he had been barely able to stop when he had been drinking. The human's blood had almost been his undoing. He wouldn't disgrace his family further by turning into a vampire. He'd been hunting those creatures for centuries, he was not about to fall as low as them. It was the least he could do for his family. His parents had been killed by a vampire. His sister and her lifemate had found their end at the hands of one as well. And his little nephew.

For over twenty years Damyan had been on the hunt of his family's murderer. But it had proven harder than he had ever thought. He had been prepared to fight his hardest fight. To kill his own brother. But Yakov had been able to evade him every time he got close to him. His brother was playing with him, Damyan knew this. He found pleasure in toying with his last relative. Delighted himself with torturing his younger brother. Damyan couldn't take it anymore.

He could hear a wolf howling in the distance, answering his earlier call. In his mind he could here Mikhail's voice greeting and welcoming him. For the first time in his life, Damyan was glad that his feelings were lost to him. To feel the shame of what he had to ask of the prince would be unbearable. No, it was better this way.

By the time he had reached the prince's house it was past midnight. Gregori greeted him at the door and led him into the living room.

***

"I wouldn't ask this if I saw any other way." Damyan stood in front of the window, looking out at the full moon.

"You can't give up yet, Damyan. You're stronger than that."

"No Gregori, I am not. Do you honestly think I'd come here and ask for you to have my brother hunted down if I thought I'd lasted even one day longer? Every day I try to go on is one day I am closer to turning. Going into the dawn is the only honourable thing I can do now."

"I was hoping you had come for a different reason." Damyan turned around and frowned at his prince.

"What do you mean?"

"I received word that there are two young people in the local inn. Siblings, a boy and a girl, in their early twenties. They asked about places in this area. Most of these places haven't been seen on any map for centuries."

Damyan shook his head, still not understanding what that had to do with him.

"Apparently they are searching for their family. Lupei." Mikhail didn't say anything else and even if he had, Damyan wouldn't have been able to comprehend anything past that name. It was a coincidence. Nothing more. There couldn't be any other explanation. His sister would have found a way to contact him had she still been alive.

"I was going to meet them tomorrow evening."

_I thought we had come to the conclusion that it is to dangerous for you to go into the village when we know nothing about those two._

_No, Gregori, _you_ think it is to dangerous. _I_ think Slavica wouldn't have asked if she didn't trust them._

"Maybe you would care to accompany me?"

_***_

"You are barely eating anything, are you alright?" Kalli looked up from her still full plate and watched Doru as he shoved another fork filled with something that Slavica had called _Mamaliga_. Kalli couldn't exactly say what it was, it looked a bit like mashed potatos which had dried up. Whatever it was though, Doru seemed to enjoy it a lot while she only played around with her spoon in the soup. Her stomach had finally rebelled against the unused water and she had spent most of the day throwing up. Slavica had been so kind as to make the young woman a chicken soup and some peppermint tea. Kalli now desperately hoped her body would keep the liquid down but she still couldn't keep from noticing, that the tea as well as the soup tasted wrong.

_Not trusting my stomach._ She signed with her hands because Doru was still looking questioningly at her. Doru's face immediately showed pity for her condition. He looked down at his plate and let his fork sink down.

"Maybe you would feel better if you don't have to smell food. Shall we go back upstairs?"

Kalli shook her head vehemently and tried a small smile. To prove her point she forced another spoon down her throat. Doru started to eat again, his eyes staying on his best friend's face in case her condition worsened.

Kalli took the tea cup in her hands and blew on the steaming drink while looking at the other guests. The French couple was seated near a window and she could also see the two young men from the evening before. No locals were in the dining room this day. Kalli couldn't take her eyes off the two men. The blond one seemed relaxed, but the other one was just as nervous as the day before. They sat near the entrance and every few seconds his gaze darted to the door, his hand once again in his pocket.

This behaviour had been cute when Kalli had still believed him to be waiting for a woman. Now it gave her the creeps. Even more so when his gaze met hers as he for once was not looking at the door. His eyes narrowed as he looked back at her and Kalli felt sick in her stomach. But she was sure that this time it wasn't due to the food.

"Kalli?" Doru's hand on her own made her slowly turn around towards him. She had no idea that she had suddenly turned very pale.

"I think it is better if we go upstairs. You should have stayed in bed." Kalli was about to agree with him when the door to the room opened and three men entered. For a moment it seemed as though everything froze. Doru's hand pressed harder on hers as Kalli's own heart stopped for a moment. All three men were tall – physically. But they also seemed larger than life and that had nothing to do with their appearance and everything with the power all three radiated. But that wouldn't have made Kalli so nervous. It was the eyes of the third man that caused her throat to close. Those were the eyes she had seen in Doru's memory. Those green, empty eyes were now scanning the room and resting on their table.

Doru's hand started to shiver and for a moment Kalli was worried. If Doru was afraid of these men that didn't bode well. Doru was hardly ever afraid of anything. She looked at his face, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping open as though he had seen a ghost.

"They are like me." he whispered so quietly no one but her could have heard him. _Like him_. Kalli looked back towards the newcomers and found that Doru was right. They had the same feeling of _different_ on them that Doru had. Not human. But not like herself either. They had found them. Her grandmother had been right. They had found Doru's family. Carpathians.

Slavica greeted two of the men and pointed towards their table. The one leading them smiled warmly at her and said something to the innkeeper. This was the friend Slavica had talked about. He had been the one she had asked about the list. Kalli was sure about that now. As they came towards them she saw from the corner of her eye that Doru slowly rose from his chair. He was trying to greet them at eye level.

She noticed that the second man frowned for a moment as they came closer but the first one only widened his smile. As though in response, the frown on his companion's face deepened.

_Is now the right time to say I was right in assuming there was something wrong with this story?_ Gregori asked Mikhail as they neared the couple Slavica had pointed out.

_Tell me that the boy isn't one of us then._

_Oh, he is. But the girl isn't. And there is something wrong in here. Don't tell me, you can't feel it._

_I do feel it. But don't tell me you are afraid of a mere girl now. Has it really come so far with you._

_Don't go to close to her. Before you know it she could have a knife at your neck. It wouldn't be the first time._

"Slavica told me you were looking for your family?" Before Mikhail could introduce himself to the couple in front of him a commotion behind him made them all turn around. The two men that had been sitting by the door were now standing, guns pointed towards them.

"You are dead bloodsuckers!" the sandy haired screamed. The French woman screamed and her companion shoved her behind him in an attempt to hide her from the men.

Kalli practically jumped from her seat and found herself next to Doru, unconsciously grabbing his arm. Right in front of them stood the man who had just spoken to them, his two companions between him and the guns, shielding him.


	4. Chapter 4

Murgatroid-98: You know, the first sentence of this chapter was actually planned as the last sentence of the last chapter; seems like we were thinking the same thing there...

apalusa-light: I know, both, chapter 2 and 3 have been rather short, especially compared to the first chapter. It was just that I felt the chapters needed to end where they did. I could have put the following chapter immediately after the last one, but seeing as I only finished this chapter last weekend and I didn't return home from work before 7 pm this week I thought it was better to post a short chapter then and a normal one now than a long one first and none this weekend. Okay, and now I'm babbling. So I just shut up now and let you read the next instalment.

Kalli bit her lip. There was a way to end this now, before anyone would get hurt. All she had to do was open her mouth and...

"What is all that ruckus about? Put down those guns, someone could get hurt!"

"What is your sister doing here?" Kalli shook her head in bewilderment at Doru's question. She couldn't believe that she was really seeing Ley standing there in the door, dressed up as though she was going to a summer party.

***

Damyan hissed as he heard the woman speak. Her voice cut straight through to his heart. His eyes hurt as they tried to get used to the colours he was suddenly seeing and his heart clenched with an unknown pain. It took him a moment to register that he could see colours. Real colours again. He should have been euphoric. There could only be one reason why he was able to see them again. Only when he found his lifemate would colours and feelings be restored for him. But why did everything still feel so numb then? It had been a long time since he had felt or seen as he could right now but he had thought it had been more intense back then. But maybe that had only been his mind tricking him over the last centuries.

_Because it is wrong._ He heard Gregori's voice in his head. _I don't know what kind of magic this is, but she isn't you lifemate. Trust me, there wouldn't be any doubt in you if she were. Mikhail, what do you… _Gregori felt silent when he suddenly saw the two men actually lower their guns to the floor and turn towards the blonde woman. They looked at her like two puppies might look up at their owner.

"Uh, could someone remove those two they are sweaty and stink." Ley looked at the two men in front of her as though they were mere insects, not even worth being in her presence.

***

Kalli iterated over and over in her mind how this was not happening right now. But unfortunately it didn't help. Her sister stood at the other side of the room and every single male who was standing in it was starring at her as though she was some miracle. From the corner of her eye she saw the French woman slapping her boyfriend's arm at gapping at the foreign woman. Not that it did any good. Ley was turning heads with her looks alone. But once she opened her mouth every male was lost.

Now her sister had caught her eye and smirked at her.

"There you are." She pushed herself past the two men in front of her and farther into the room, not even noticing how the two were following her like moths would a light. Kalli noticed that the Carpathians in front of them tensed as Ley and her admirers came towards them, the leader of the three was once more being shielded by the other two.

Ley cast one appraising look over the three men and grinned wickedly as she stopped in front of her sister.

"So you run off to a village in some not yet developed country to play with the locals and leave me back home with Mama and Papa? That is really not nice sister. You would have let me die of boredom at home while you have all the fun." Kalli's eyes widened at her sister's words and she saw Doru next to her stiffen.

"Luckily I had been following grandma to the lake and overheard you two talking. Although you could have really chosen a nicer place to go to. You know, Venice is supposed to be really nice this time of the year… And you, aren't you ashamed of yourself for dragging my sister into this mess?" Doru narrowed his eyes at Ley as the blonde Siren stuck her finger into his chest and looked scoldingly up at him.

"How about you simply leave this awful place and go back home? We wouldn't want you to be too miserable here, would we?"

"Oh now, you're not getting rid of me this easily. I'm Kalli's older sister, I should look out for her. As long as she is staying so am I. Now," Ley cast a glance over her shoulder expecting to see the two men from before still leering at her but they had disappeared as she had been talking to her sister. Ley smiled sweetly at the people around her and softened her voice.

"So, where will I be staying?"

***

"Well, I guess it is better than that place you were staying in." Ley looked around at the room her sister had been given and sat down on the large bed, gingerly testing the mattress with her hand.

"I wouldn't have been able to stay even an hour in that place. I would never have thought that your taste was so low. I mean, Doru might not be a Dragon but at least he is kind of cute. Like the rest of the men here. I mean, have you even noticed them?" Ley fanned herself and fell back on the bed, closing her eyes as she lay there.

"Honestly, it is hard to tell who is the best looking of them. They might almost pass for Dragons themselves, don't you think?"

Kalli didn't answer. She stood in front of the window, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her teeth buried in her lower lip to keep from screaming. She knew she should have Doru come here alone.

After the men in the inn had been 'taken care of' – whatever that had meant – the leader of the three Carpathians, who turned out to be their prince, had invited Doru to come with his to his house, where they had wanted to talk with him about what he was and about his family. Doru had only agreed to go on the condition that Kalli would come as well. Kalli had seen that the Carpathians had been uncomfortable with this request and had insisted that Doru would go alone. It was his family after all. But Doru had stood firm. Of course Ley wouldn't be left behind and once they had stepped foot into the prince's home Kalli knew it had been a mistake to bring her here.

Two women had awaited them upon their arrival – the prince's wife and their daughter, lifemate to the second man that had come to the inn – and several men. The men had reacted strange to Ley, who couldn't stop talking for even a minute. Not like humans, there were no happy-puppy-faces. They looked at her with a mixture of awe, hope and wariness. And Kalli, upon remembering what her grandmother had told her on their way back from the lake to her home had felt dreadful.

From watching the scene earlier Kalli had the misgiving that a Siren's voice was somehow giving a Carpathian the illusion of having found their lifemate. And of course, Ley was far from being silent while being surrounded by a group of men.

"You know, it may be awfully dreadful here, but the men might just be worth spending some days here in the middle of nowhere." Ley curled a strand of her golden hair around her finger and hummed softly.

"And to think that you wanted to have all of these splendid specimens for yourself. Shame on you!" Ley opened her eyes and turned her head to regard her sister.

"Hey, are you even listening to me? Or don't you talk to me anymore?!"

Kalli's eyebrows rose high on her forehead. She hadn't spoken a single word all day and _now_ her sister noticed.

"What? You look at me as though I'm a little child which was caught with the hand in the cookie jar. I don't like it!" Ley's pout did indeed look like that of a little girl's. And sadly more often than not she got away with that face. Kalli had always watched her older sister walking through life, not caring for the repercussions of her actions.

"Do you even once think before you open you mouth?" Kalli hissed at her sister, trying to keep her voice down. She knew she was close to yelling.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You claim you heard what grandma told me before I left. You should know that these men downstairs have lost their emotions. Don't you think it odd that they swarm around you like humans do when you speak?" Ley looked at Kalli as though she had hit her head.

"No, of course not. Men always react like this to us."

"In case you haven't noticed, these men aren't like the humans at home. They are different. And you are doing something with your voice to them. You have to stop it!" Ley laughed resoundingly and slowly arose from the bed.

"You expect me to stop speaking? To men? I always knew you were strange, but this is hilarious. I tell you something little sister. You're jealous." she stopped right in front of Kalli and looked down and the smaller woman, flipping her long golden hair behind her shoulder. Kalli was too shocked to respond.

"I am right. Of course. You thought you could come here and charm all these men and now I come along and you realise that you have no chance against me." Kalli felt rage burning inside of her. She felt it slowly crawl up inside of her. Any moment she would start to scream. Any moment...

"Don't worry too much. It's not like I'm doing anything to steal your _boyfriend_ away from you. You can keep him." Kalli took a deep breath and spoke through her gritted teeth.

"Doru isn't my boyfriend. I've told you this before. He's like a brother to me."

Ley looked disgusted by this thought.

"Why would you want someone like him as your brother?"

"Maybe because my own sister is so awful!" Ley took a step back as this time, Kalli did scream.

"You are selfish, arrogant, stubborn, stupid and think you are the middle of the universe. You don't ever think about anyone but yourself. You are the picture perfect of the sirens people described for centuries in their horror stories!"

A knock at the door interrupted Kalli in her unusual outburst and she spun around to face the wooden barrier between her and whoever was out in the hall. Flinching about having been heard she opened the door and let out a relieved sigh when she saw Doru standing in the door.

"How was it?" she asked as she pulled him inside her room, referring to the conversation he had just had with his uncle and the Carpathian prince. Doru ran a hand nervously through his dark hair, unsure of how to answer that question. He had the feeling he had been hit by a truck and left on the road; so much had been explained to him in the past hours. And he still had so many questions left. Some which he hadn't even had before today.

"Yes, tell us what you've been told. When will you start to grow up and look all manly like those relatives of yours?"

Doru and Kalli both shot Ley a look that was telling her to shut up. Of course the blonde wouldn't be silenced so easily.

"What? It's not like I called him ugly. But with those men downstairs you can't compete, pretty boy." She teased in her sing-sang voice.

"Aren't there any sailors you are supposed to sing into an early grave somewhere? Preferably on another continent?"

"Ouch, I hit a nerve. Afraid my sister will get a wake up call and leave you behind to get involved with one of your new friends? Because really, dearest sister, you should. I could sort out those who aren't interesting enough for me so you could choose among them." Ley smiled sweetly, patting Doru on his cheek before he could move away.

"Actually, I think I should go look if I can find some of them right now, to let you know the chosen ones as soon as possible. See you two later."

"Ley!" Kalli made to grab her sister's arm but she evaded her easily and slipped out of the room, her laughter light in the empty hallway.

"Damn!"

"Let her go. She's annoying as hell, as soon as she sees no one wants her around, we might be lucky enough to see her get bored and leave."

"If only." Kalli said more to herself. But a look at her best friend's face showed her that his mind was somewhere else anyway.

"Want to talk?" Doru shrugged and looked out of the window.

"Let's take a walk, I think I could need some fresh air."

They left the house silently, without being noticed by anyone. A small distance from the front door they saw Ley easily wrapping a three of the Carpathians around her little finger. Doru frowned as he saw this but then shook his head and continued onto the path into the forest.

They walked in silence for some time. Kalli switching between watching the way before her and Doru's face. Finally she stopped him and looked questioningly at him. When he didn't say anything, Kalli motioned something with her hands.

"You can speak, you know. There is no one around to hear you." Kalli bit her lip, not sure whether Doru was really able to tell if any of his people were nearby, but finally deciding that he wouldn't sound so sure if he had the slightest doubt.

"I was expected to see an overjoyed you standing in the door earlier. You don't seem happy, though."

"It's not that I'm not happy. I am." Doru sighed and sat down on a large stone. "It's just so much, you know. They knew my parents." Kalli refrained from pointing the obvious out. As one of them was his uncle it was only natural that they would. Instead she crouched down in front of him and put her arms on his knees.

"What did they tell you?" she asked silently when he didn't continue himself.

"My... uncle..." Doru stumbled over the word and swallowed hard, "told me about them. Bilyana and Gavril. I never even knew their names." Tears gathered in Dorus eyes and he angrily wiped them away with the sleeve of his shirt. "He told me what they looked like. How they had been. How happy they had been when my mother was pregnant with me. And how proud they were when I was born." All the wiping didn't help anymore and Kalli rose to sit next to her friend and let him cry against her shoulder.

Neither of them knew how long they sat like that. Once Doru had calmed down he told her what else he had been told. That it was his own uncle, his mother's oldest brother, Yakov, that had killed his parents.

"You're not going to do anything stupid are you?" Kalli voice was worried.

"Like what?"

"Like what? Like trying to go after him." Doru looked darkly at her before turning his gaze away and looking into the darkness of the forest around them.

"Doru,"

"They wouldn't let me anyway. Not yet." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Twenty-five doesn't seem to be that grown-up to Carpathians as it is to humans. Or even Your people. While your parents want to marry you off, I'm not much more than a child. Especially since I don't know what I should at my age." Kalli looked confused at what she had just heard.

"Oookay, could you repeat that for me. Please?" Doru sighed again and arose.

"I have so much to learn about being a Carpathian. So much I wouldn't even have imagined. I _will_ hunt him. I will find him and avenge my parents. But I won't go into this unprepared. I won't give him the satisfaction of killing me as well." While Doru made his pledge Kalli had another thought crossing her mind.

"That is why you never reacted to our voices." She whispered more to herself than to him. Doru still heard her and turned back to her.

"What do you mean?"

Kalli smiled sadly at him and stroke through his unruly dark hair.

"As you said. Your age is different. Human children don't react to a Siren's seduction either. They can be calmed by us, yes. As I am always able to calm you. But no boy would look at a Siren with lust. Once you loose the ability to feel and see colours you will react like everyone else."

"Nonsense! It must have something to do with me being Carpathian that I don't react to your voice. No one reacted to Ley either."

"But they did. The do. And so will you. One day." _I will loose you after all_. But she didn't say that.

"No. No Kalli, I won't." Doru grabbed her shoulders. "And even if this were true. It won't happen for almost two hundred years." Doru was right, of course. And two hundred years were a long time. A long time to forget each other when Kalli would go back to Germany and leave Doru here with his family. But she decided that now was not the moment to speak of the impending goodbye. Especially when her stomach rumbled right now.

Doru heard it and looked at Kalli.

"You still look very pale. Are you really sure, your stomach is better?"

"Of course." Kalli lied through a smile. She did feel a bit better. But then, she hadn't dared to eat or drink anything since they had left the inn for fear her stomach would rebel again. But now she was awfully thirsty. She wouldn't be able to keep from drinking anything much longer. She needed something liquid.

"I still think we should go back. The sun will rise soon, and you have been up all night. You need to rest. We will talk later. You could support me when I start my _lessons_ at dusk." Kalli smiled up at Doru as they headed back towards the house.

Before she went to bed Doru made sure she would drink some tea, obviously not really trusting her earlier claim of being alright.


	5. Chapter 5

Murgatroid-98: I don't know how you do it, but the fact that you are speaking out (or rather writing down) thinks I either have planned or at one point had planned for the story is slowly getting scary ;)

Apalusa-light: I blame Ley's personality solely on watching a bit of a _North and South_ marathon rerun recently and I think Ley is my outlet of seeing Ashton too much.

Purely Superficial: Oh, don't worry, I'm always one or two chapters ahead in writing, so at least for the next few weekends, the updates are guaranteed.

WARNING: From here onwards the chapters contain spoilers up until Dark Slayer. The ones in this chapter may be considered minor ones, but I still want to be sure no one can claim I didn't warn them.

* * *

Kalli leaned with her hip against the banister of the porch while she watched Doru try to change his form. And at the same time she was trying to ignore her sister standing next to Doru's uncle babbling nonstop. It hadn't surprised Kalli that as soon as he had learned that Carpathians were able to shift into a wolf among other animals, Doru had wanted to try this first of all. Three days into the training and he still hadn't managed it though.

It had been an hour already since they had come out for Doru's training. And while Doru was impatience personified his uncle seemed the polar opposite. He explained Doru over and over what he was supposed to do, no matter how often Doru failed. And while Doru became angry at himself for failing, his uncle simply kept telling him what he did wrong and how to do it better. He even seemed able to ignore Ley standing next to him who was showing first signs of anger herself, when the object of her current attention didn't act like he was supposed to.

_If only this __Graoully were like him._ But Kalli knew her parents better than that. The perfect Dragon to them was a hard one. Bordering on being cruel or maybe even passing that border. Not a patient man with lonely green eyes that mirrored his soul… _Stop it Kalli, right there. This isn't leading anywhere good._ It didn't help her that she felt said green eyes on her at this very moment.

She clutched her cup of tea in her hands and blew on the steaming drink when one of the two Carpathian women stepped out of the house, holding an infant in her arm. Kalli wasn't sure she had all of the male's names remembered correctly, but with only two women she remembered that the dark haired Carpathian standing next to her was named Savannah.

"How is his training going?" Savannah asked and shifted her baby slightly when the little one murmured. Kalli bit her lip and moved her head from side to side.

"So bad, hu?" Savannah shook her head smiling as she, too watched the training session on the meadow. The baby in her arms moved restlessly and Savannah had trouble to calm the child down.

"I don't know what is the matter with her. Her sister is happily asleep inside with Mum having no trouble looking after her but Anastasia here is not to be calmed down." Savannah muttered as she tried to bring the baby girl into a position in her arms that the child would regard as comfortable and stop moving so much. Kalli watched mother and child for some time before she tipped with her index finger onto the cup's rim. As she made an upwards movement with her finger a tea bubble moved out of her cup and danced in the air. Instantly the baby stopped moving, transfixed by the sight of the flowing bubble. Kalli smiled at the child and let some more bubbles, smaller and bigger ones join the first one in its dance until the little girl was laughing and reaching with her little hands towards the tea. Kalli blew lightly onto the remaining tea in her cup until it rose halfway out of the cup, looking like a little tea-man.

Kalli let the bubbles rotate over the tea-man, making it look as though he was juggling the the bubbles himself. The baby on Savannah's arms was gurgling happily at the sight and Savannah herself just stood there, equally transfixed by the sight as her daughter.

"How can you do this?" Kalli shrugged. It was hard to explain that playing with anything liquid was a natural talent of a Siren when you didn't use your voice. So she just continued with her show for Anastasia for now.

***

Doru tried desperately to follow the instructions his uncle was giving him. It couldn't be that hard, for sure. It was in his blood to change, so he should be able to do it. Or maybe it was just the fact that Ley was standing next to his uncle talking and talking with no sign of stopping anytime soon that kept him from concentrating on changing into a wolf. He wondered how his uncle could stand to listen to her all this time when he heard a baby's laugh coming from the porch only a few meters away from them. As his eyes followed the sound he saw Kalli showing little tricks with the water from her cup to the infant on the other woman's arm. And the baby seemed to be a grateful audience.

Some years ago Doru had stumbled over a lexicon entry in which three different types of mermaids had been listed. And while Ley had always been the epitome of the sirens or necks which personified danger and seduction, Kalli had always struck him as a mixture of the positive forms of these spirits the motherly and loving water-women and the innocent mermaids which required salvation.

He couldn't help but smile as he watched the innocent scene unfolding itself. He looked over to his uncle and Ley to see whether they were watching as well.

"She's great at that, isn't she?" he asked as proudly as a father would.

"Please, this is nothing special. We can form water before we can speak." Ley rolled her eyes, obviously not understanding, how anyone could be interested in these games for little children. Doru's uncle on the other hand watched Kalli, but his eyes were narrowed. When his gaze fell back onto Doru, the young man was confused.

"She is distracting you." He said silently, but still loud enough for Ley to hear and laugh about it.

"She is not. I was just taking a break. I…"

"You worry about her." Damyan said and looked back to the young woman who he knew was constantly on his nephews mind. She was smaller than Gregori's lifemate who stood opposite her, and her hair was a lighter shade. He would say it was dark brown from what the Siren's voice had brought back to him, but it the pictures of her he had seen in Doru's mind told him that it wasn't that simple. Her hair seemed to be undecided whether it wanted to be brown or red or black, looking this colour than that depending on the light. His nephew mostly thought of her as a strong person, keeping him grounded in the past years and calming him. But when Damyan looked at her now, she didn't seem so strong; actually she looked quite the opposite. Paler than in Doru's mind; though that might have been because his ability to see colours wasn't _really_ back. But she looked also weaker in general, more tired and fragile. And his nephew knew this as well.

"Your worry about her health keeps you from concentrating on anything else." Doru wanted to argue, but he knew Damyan was right. Kalli looked worse then the night before, even though she had assured him she was fine. She hadn't come to his dreams. Something he had been sure she would do. Instead, he had found her in the kitchen when he had woken up, a few hours before dusk. She had rings under her eyes which had told him plainly that she had barely slept and her skin looked sickly greyish. Her movements were slower than usual, and not nearly as flowing and fairylike as he was used to.

She wasn't well. And she wouldn't admit it herself. Doru knew he had to take matters into his own hands. He had decided the next steps this afternoon in the kitchen and although the decision pained him, he knew it was the right one.

"We will go back to Germany tomorrow morning." He told his uncle silently. Unfortunately not silently enough, for Ley had heard him and was now muttering something incomprehensible.

For the first time Damyan was glad that his feelings were muted because loosing the only family member he had left after only getting him back recently was an emotion he didn't want to feel.

"Why…"

"I can't bring her to a doctor." Doru whispered and let his gaze drop to the grass.

"They would see that she is different. She needs to see one of their healers, and they are only found in the west."

It was Savannah's scream that called their attention back to the house. They saw Kalli clutching her heart and letting the teacup drop onto the porch. Before either of them reached the porch, the front door of the house opened and Gregori rushed out, alarmed by his lifemate's cry.

Kalli tried to hold herself up as long as possible. But she couldn't delude herself – she was getting weaker by the second now. It was as though her own body fought her. The teacup shattered onto the wooden blanks of the porch and she heard Savannah scream as Kalli sank to her knees. Her heart felt like it was about to explode. From somewhere far away she heard Doru calling her name. She was surprised to see him kneeling down next to her. His voice had sounded farther away.

Doru's arms were under her shoulders so she wouldn't hit the floor on her fall. As she lay there, her face towards the shattered pieces of the cup she saw something on the now wet porch that she should have realised sooner. She tried desperately to focus her gaze on Doru to tell him what she had just found out, but now, that she was trying to speak, she found her voice to be gone, her throat gone dry. With shaking fingers she started to tell him, but she had barely signed the words 'The water' before blackness engulfed her.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm terrible sorry for not updating sooner but I had an eventful day! First a shopping trip with my mom, then finding an electronic problem with my car and finally getting my new laptop and new WLAN router to work together (I just got AOL to work on VISTA five minutes ago). Well, enough of my bad day and on with the story

Murgatroid-98: Forget what I said, don't stop channelling! In fact... start again right now!!!

apalusa-light: You will find out what is wrong with Kalli in this chapter.

I actually had planned to stretch this out but it just flowed out of my mind through my fingers and once it was finished it didn't feel right to rewrite it just so it would fill more chapters. So, here you go, a longer chapter for a change.

* * *

„KALLI!" Doru held the lifeless body close to him, waiting for her to regain consciousness again.

"Bring her inside, to her bed." Savannah told him over the newly started crying of the baby. Over her child's head she looked at her lifemate and begged him to help the young woman. Gregori nodded once and repeated his lifemate's order. Doru stood on shaking legs and carried Kalli back into the house. But he didn't make it farther than to the couch in the living room, where he put her limb body gently down.

"She needs water." He whispered and looked around him, as though he expected to find some in the room.

"Go and get her a glass from the kitchen, I will see if I can help her." Gregori said and kneed down next to Kalli's bed. Doru hesitated. It wasn't that he didn't trust Gregori; it was just that he wasn't sure what the male could do for her that he himself wouldn't be able to.

'_Gregori is the best healer your friend could hope for. If there is a way to help her, he will find it.'_ Doru heard his uncle's voice inside his head and chastised himself for letting his guard down so easily. He heard Damyan's scoff in his mind as an answer. _'There are many things you haven't learned yet.'_

As soon as Gregori had shed his own body and entered Kalli's he was attacked by something that at first glance resembled Xavier's microbes. And yet they didn't. These here didn't hide from him, the attacked him. And there wasn't just a single one in the young woman's body, but an entire horde of these vile creatures. Gregori wondered how they had been able to enter her body so easily. She didn't go to the earth to sleep like a Carpathian. She shouldn't have been infested with one, and yet here she was infested with at least twenty of these little demons.

'_It's the water' _

Gregori heard the melodic voice loud and clear. Coming from the Siren's own mind. No sooner had she spoken to him did the microbes around him scatter away from him. Gregori tried to reach the mind of the young woman. On his way there he noticed that her vocal cords were fully intact.

'_I don't like it if people treat me different as soon as I speak, so I simply don't.'_ she answered his unspoken question.

'_You seem very calm, considering all these microbes in your body.' _Gregori felt a natural barrier when he tried to enter her mind.

'_I know I'm dying. I need more water to survive than you or a normal human. But your water brings these microbes with them. So I will either die of thirst, my body dehydrating or these microbes will inflict more damage to me and this will cause my death. Either way I won't wake up again. Screaming and crying won't change that.' _

The warrior in Gregori had to admire her pride and strength and at the same time the healer in him rebelled.

'_You can't just let these microbes win.'_

'_My body needs nutrition to be strong, but with nutrition come the microbes and they don't let me keep the liquids.' _

Gregori tried once more to enter her mind but he reached the same barrier as before and more: something growled at him and snapped at his mind in warning. As he pulled himself out of her body he saw a shadow lurking behind the female's voice; proud and defiant, but not at its full strength.

When the healer opened his eyes he found himself in the living room surrounded by worried faces.

"What was that?" Savannah asked confused and reached her hand out to touch him, as tough to assure herself, that he was alright.

"What was what?" Doru asked. The healer's gaze as he looked at him was undecided and Doru knew he was considering whether or not to tell him the truth.

"What happened to her?"

"It seems Xavier left us a present before he left us." Gregori said darkly at the other Carpathians.

"You should dump that water. It would only make her condition worse." Gregori looked at the glass in Doru's hands as the young male was about to lift it to Kalli's mouth.

"But she needs to drink" Doru argued.

"Our water is poisoned. It made her sick, and giving her more of it will only kill her faster."

"But, but you can heal her, right?" Gregori was silent for several moments before he sighed and arose from the floor.

"I don't know how." He admitted silently. "I can't get into her mind. She is blocking me. Or maybe it is something else."

"Pfft. I could have told you that." It was the first thing Ley had said since her sister had lost consciousness. Now, all eyes were back on her and she enjoyed that change immensely.

"What do you mean with that?" Doru asked angrily.

"Just that I tried to enter her mind when we were both children. I wanted to know what she was dreaming about, but she almost bit me when I did that. I figured her dreams couldn't be interesting enough to endure that once more and so I stayed away from her. I tell you, she is crazy."

Doru looked ready to hit Ley when he heard her say that but Gregori kept him from actually going after the blonde Siren.

"She is right. There is something protecting her mind. And this something has teeth. I'm not entirely sure what it is though." He looked expectantly at Ley but the Siren only shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know what's wrong with her mind. I've never seen something like that before or after."

"You're not helpful!"

"Well, at least I'm not lying there close to death because I was stupid enough to just drink foreign water. She should have known better. Mama always told us to bring home water along on a journey. Now I see why."

"You… you knew this could happen? You saw how weak she was getting? You had clean water with you and didn't even give her some?!"

Ley glared at Doru and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"If she is old enough to travel across Europe alone, she is old enough to bear the consequences."

Doru shook his head, suddenly feeling very weak. He didn't even have the strength to yell anymore.

"You really don't have a heart, do you? She is you sister."

"Mama and Papa moved away from our home once she was borne because she didn't fit. They are her parents and trust me when I tell you they won't shed a tear should she really die here."

Before Doru could answer Kalli let out a small whimpering sound as her body shook on the couch.

"Doru, come here, we will try to enter her body together, maybe you can reach her mind." Gregori's voice made Doru forget about Ley and hurry back to his best friend's side.

"What do I have to do?"

"I'll show you."

Before he knew what was happening, he felt disembodied.

'_Doru?'_ The voice was weak and strained, yet unmistakably Kalli.

'_KALLI!'_ Doru tried to move towards the voice, but he reached the same barrier, which had held Gregori back before.

'_Kalli, please, let us help you.'_

'_You can't help me. It's too late.'_ Just like Ley and Gregori had told him, Doru felt something snapping at him as he tried to reach for Kalli's mind. But opposite to the other two, he was determined to get through.

'_Kalli, stop it. Biting me won't help you. You can't get rid of me so easily.'_

'_What do you mean? Why would I bite you? Please leave me alone to die.'_

'_No way.' _He tried again and this time, the growling sound grew stronger, the snapping of teeth closer to him.

'_Kalli, let me in. Please.'  
_

'_It's not that bad, you know. Dying I mean. It's a bit like dreaming.'_

'_You have the rest of your life to dream. When you die there won't be no more dreaming. And no more singing.' _

'_I like singing. But it's so hard. Those microbes won't let me. I can't hear the music anymore. But I can still dream.'_

'_You're giving up Kalli. Don't do this. Don't let them win.'_

'_Try to sing to her.' Gregori spoke in Doru's mind. _

Doru hesitated for a moment. What was he supposed to sing? And how? He wasn't a Siren. He couldn't make her do what he wanted with a song.

'_But you might be able to make her want to fight. Make her want to stay.'_

Doru remembered how Kalli had used his memories and emotions for the songs she had sung him and so he now tried to do the same for her. Thinking about Kalli and her condition right now, he slowly started.

'_It's so fragile  
Easy broken  
It's so fragile, and it goes so slow  
But when hope, that sweet, sweet angel  
Brings the dream you thought had gone  
Don't turn away  
Turn back and listen  
Yeah turn around, oh turn to me  
Don't break the dream, it's waiting for your  
It can give you what you need_

But broken dreams linger on  
They tie you up, they bind like steel  
You can escape, but do you want to?  
Let me in  
Let me dream your dreams  
Let me dream your dreams'

And it worked. He could feel Kalli's mind opening slightly to him. Gregori encouraged him to go on.

_'And don't you question  
How you got here  
Don't try to think, don't think to judge  
And there's no price  
There never will be  
Can't value hope,  
can't value love_

Oh broken dreams linger on  
They tie you up, they bind like steel  
You can struggle, or surrender  
Let me in  
Let me dream your dreams  
Let me dream your dreams

It's not always clear, but always there  
Sometimes we're blind and lost for looking  
We look too hard at empty air  
Can't live on air  
Can't live an fear  
So we live on dreams'

He felt her mind open completely with his last words and he pushed inside, past the growling and snarling that was still present. But only once he was inside did he get a clear image of what it was that had been so adamant in its protection of Kalli's mind.

'_A dragon?'_

'_You seem surprised.' _Turning towards the voice he saw Kalli, pale and sickly even in her own mind.

'_Well, I don't think it is considered to be common to have a dragon wrapped around your mind.'_

'_She only wraps herself around it when someone tries to enter. Otherwise she is hidden inside. The microbes have brought her out'_ Kalli explained as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

'_Why didn't I know this?'_

'_I was in your mind, but you never in mine.' _

'_Can't the dragon fight the microbes?'_ Doru wasn't sure whether he asked Kalli or Gregori, whom he still felt as well in his mind. Kalli seemed to think he was speaking to the Carpathian, for she remained silent. Her head was cocked to one side as though she was waiting for the answer herself.

'_I'm not sure. The dragon is a part of her. As long as she is weak, so is the dragon.'_

'_What if we gave her something different to drink. Bottled water? Would that help?'_

'_I'm not sure, the microbes might take the water before her body can get a hold of it.'_

'_Is there something the microbes don't like? Something we could give her that would kill them?'_

'_Anything strong enough to kill the microbes would most likely kill her as well.'_

'_Doru, just let it be. It's okay.'_

'_I won't let you die! What strengthens your dragon? You must know.'_

There was silence for a moment and Doru felt that Kalli had retreated farther into herself. He cursed and was about to follow her when he heard a rumble from all around him.

'_Her memories' _Doru heard Gregori's voice. _'The dragon reacts to her memories. She is trying to strengthen the animal herself.'_

'_She isn't strong enough to do it alone, is she?'_ Gregori didn't answer immediately but finally he told Doru to try and follow his friend.

'_She might need your strength as well. But be careful. The task will weaken you just as easily.'_ Doru felt Gregori moving back into his own body while he remained with his mind in Kalli's. Determined to help her he dashed after her, trying to find her.

Brushing through her minds he caught glimpses of her memories. He wondered if this was similar to what Kalli felt when she was in his head during their dreams. He could feel what she had felt during the different scenes displayed. He saw himself as a nine-year-old when they had first met. Saw many scenes with her parents and felt the sadness that surrounded each one of them. He saw scenes of them when they grew up together and even saw their trip that had brought them to Romania. He brushed over a pair of green eyes that he recognized and a strange feeling from Kalli about them that he neither knew himself nor had Kalli before, as he could clearly see in her memories.

'_Stop it! I'm trying to concentrate.'_ Doru had never been happier to hear Kalli snap at him.

'_So you're willing to fight now?' _

'_The dragon is stronger here; I can barely feel the microbes. I think they are doing something not only to my body but also to my mind. I really didn't have the will to survive.'_

'_But you do now, right?'_ Doru realised how desperate he sounded, but he didn't care.

'_Yes. And that's why I have to concentrate. I don't know how it works, exactly, but the dragon is getting stronger, when I remember something good. The bad ones make her angry and she might lash out at me.'_

'_She wants you to forget the negative memories.'_ Doru concluded. Kalli stayed silent and Doru saw flashes of memories as Kalli scanned through them. He remembered many of the scenes himself. Kalli desperately tried to skip over the memories of her parents, tried to cling to those moments with her friend and Doru wondered whether it would be enough for the dragon.

_'What if you _imagined_ something good. Would that work?' _Kalli hesitated in her skipping through her memories.

_'I don't know.'_

_'Try it, we have nothing to loose. Try to think of something you like. Imagine your parents being wonderful and loving and kind to you, like your grandmother is. Imagine Ley being a good big sister who is taking care of you and...'_

_'It's not working Doru. I know that this isn't true. I can't delude myself.'_

_'Okay,' _Doru tried to keep his mind from what he was telling Kalli_ 'imagine my uncle. Damyan. Imagine Damyan and yourself and uh...well...' _It felt like a slap in his mind.

_'You're not helping! I know what is possible and what not. Telling me something that is not possible is not really making me feel better.'_

_'It's not impossible. I mean, I honestly don't want to think about you two but well, it's not impossible.'_

_'Doru. Out there in the entire world is one woman who has his heart. But that's not me.'_

_'How can you be so sure?!' _Doru regretted the question as soon as he had asked it. He felt the dragon shudder and weaken.

_'Okay, forget it. Think happy thought. Think about your grandmother. Think about me. Remember that one evening when we went swimming and you stayed so long under water that I was thinking you had drowned and you had a real blast while watching me frantically searching you beneath the surface. That was fun, right?'_

Kalli was silent for a long time and Doru was becoming scared.

_'I don't know how I'm supposed to fight them.' _

_'I'll help you. If your memories aren't enough, search in mine. Look for the same memories as you have. It will be enough. It has to!'_

Doru _felt_ Kalli connect her mind with his for the first time. It was like warm water flowing over his skin and while he replayed some of their happy memories he felt the dragon roar. And no sooner had the animal let out that sound did he feel the water flowing out of his mind.

_'Go, you shouldn't be in here. I don't know what she will do. But Doru... please don't go far.'_

_'I'll be sitting right next to you out there. I'll be there when you need me.'_

_'Thank you.'_

Before Doru could assure her that there was nothing to thank him for he was already back in his own body. He was glad that he was on his knees already. He hadn't expected to feel so weak.

Gregori looked at him questioningly.

"She's as strong as she can become right now. She is..."

Kalli trashed on the couch and her eyes flew open, the normally dark brown now a fiery red as she sat upright on the couch and opened her mouth as if to scream. Doru held onto her hand when she started gagging and coughing. Her skin was glowing hot yet her entire body shivered.

Behind him, Doru heard someone gasp at the same moment that he saw something black fall out of her mouth with a screeching noise and scurrying around on the floor. Someone was stating with a shocked voice that they shouldn't be so big and Doru wondered how they were supposed to know the size of these _things_.

"We need to carry her back outside. If she's going to spit out all of them we can call the lightning down on them."

"And what about this one?" Doru asked disgusted while he hurried to his feet as the microbe moved towards him. Without a word Damyan scrunched the animal beneath his boot.

"We will call the lightning on it outside as well." With that he moved to gather Kalli into his arms to carry her outside.

"I'll carry her." Doru stopped his uncle and put his arms under Kalli's knees and shoulders to lift her up. Her skin seemed to be getting hotter and hotter every moment. Her skin turned red and Doru could feel the heat creeping onto his hands.

"What is happening?" he asked Gregori worriedly as he placed Kalli carefully down in the grass outside the house. Gregori squinted his eyes at the young woman as he placed a hand on her red arm.

"It seems she is burning from the inside."

"Is this good or bad?"

Before Gregori could answer Kalli convulsed and threw out two more of the microbes before she fell back into Doru's arms.

"Good, I would say." Was Gregori's reply while he called down lightning to kill the screeching black beings before they could disappear into the ground.

"I don't know how she is doing it, but it seems the microbes don't like the heat."

Doru hissed when Kalli's body became even hotter in his arms. With a screech the next microbe emerged from Kalli's mouth onto the ground. And yet her body didn't cool down. Her temperature continued rising as one after the other the microbes fled her body, only to be killed by lightning once outside.

Only when the last microbe had left her system did her body stop heating itself up. Doru had been forced to put Kalli down several microbes ago and even the grass beneath her had fizzled from the heat.

Doru kneed next to his friend's head and silently begged her to wake up again.

* * *

Song: Broken Dreams – Rebecca Lavelle (from the TV Show McLeod's Daughters)

Yesterday I wrote an explanation about how I was stuck with writer's block at the worst possible part of this story (can you guess which one I mean? :p). But somehow, writing how annoying this was helped me get back to write more than a sentence a day. So, while you are waiting for next week, I'm off to write on... oh, right, I'm not supposed to tell you yet :D


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, I won't say anything before this chapter. Enjoy :D

* * *

Kalli opened her eyes slowly, unsure of where she was at first. She tried to lift her right hand to rub the sleep from her eyes when she noticed something heavy resting on it. When she lifted her head a bit she recognized Doru laying there with his upper body and his head on her bed, his legs on the floor, making it what Kalli expected to be an uncomfortable position. Kalli tried to free her hand gently from underneath Doru's chest but he awoke with a start and sat upright immediately, the wrinkles of the sheet visible on the right side of his face.

"How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty. How long, how long have I been…" it was harder to speak then Kalli had expected. Her throat was completely dry.

"Five days. Here, drink something." Doru handed her a glass of water that Kalli only eyed suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it comes from this here." Next to where the glass had been standing Kalli now saw a water bottle. One whose label she could actually read. Surprise showed on her face at this.

"I couldn't be sure how far the microbes have gone already, so I thought it safe to buy some water that is from farther away. Now drink." Kalli drank greedily the entire bottle before the soreness in her throat eased.

"They are all out now, aren't they? Nothing left in me?"

"No need to worry, you're microbe-free. And I really hope you stay that way."

A small smile found its way to Kalli's face.

"Was it that bad?"

"Remember when we watched _The Exorcist_ once? I'd suggest you for a sequel."

"That bad, hu?"

"In a strange way it was actually quite interesting. How did you manage to heat up your body to such an extent?" Kalli shrugged slightly and sat up gingerly in the bed. Doru hurried to put some pillows behind her so she could sit more easily.

"I read somewhere that plasma kills microbes, bacilli, viruses and such. And our blood contains a special form of plasma. I was just hoping that I could heat it up enough to be similar to the other one and thus kill the microbes. But there are still more out there. In the water. They have to be killed somehow as well. Maybe."

"Kalli, you need rest now. We'll think about fighting those creepy nasty little things once you're fully recovered, okay?"

The two friends talked for some time, Doru having to tell Kalli what had happened in the past five days while he interrupted himself after every second sentence to make sure she was okay. After about half an hour Doru insisted that Kalli eat something and left for the kitchen.

"Bravo. I must admit I'm impressed. I'd have never thought you'd be able to bring the attention to yourself with such a weak performance." Kalli turned to see her sister standing in the door when she had just refilled her glass with water.

"You seem surprised to see me!" Ley accused her sister and stepped into the room.

"I had hoped you would have left by now."

"And I had thought I told you that won't happen anytime soon. I might actually like it here what would you say to that." Ley walked around in the room, stopping at the window and looking at her sister from the corner of her eye.

"Damyan alone is reason enough to stay here, don't you think?" Ley's grin grew when Kalli's head snapped up at this.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Of course not. You know, if you're letting someone into your mind you should make sure that their mind is protected as well as yours."

"You were in Doru's dreams?!"

Ley shrugged when Kalli tried to leave the bed.

"There's not much interesting going on in there, I don't know why you bother with him. But this little info about your feelings for his uncle… priceless. I don't know what I find more amusing: The fact, that you actually think yourself in the same league with him or the fact, that it will never ever happen and one day you will realise that as well. In the meantime, I sit by and watch. Oh, this might be so much fun." Ley turned back away from the window to face her sister.

"Maybe I will be so nice and tell him about how you feel. Wouldn't that be great?"

"You wouldn't," Kalli didn't need a mirror to know the colour in her face had changed from burning red to ghostly pale in a matter of seconds.

"There isn't much to entertain me here, safe from the attention the males here are giving me. It's so nice to be cherished so much." Ley argued and looked Kalli over from head to toe.

"Granted, it might be embarrassing for you if I told anyone. It's not like any man would even look your way as long as I'm here. Oh, can you even imagine being held by someone like him."

"You, you…"

"Yes?" Ley smiled sweetly at her younger sister while Kalli rose slowly from the bed, her hands balled to fists at her side. She took a shaky step towards her sister but Ley just laughed at her.

"Am I supposed to be afraid of you now?"

"How can you enjoy playing with people and their emotions so much? You stop from no one! Not me, your own sister. Not these people here who are willing to let you stay at their home. No one is safe from you."

"How? Easy, little sister, because I can. Not that you know what it feels like to turn every man's head when you enter a room. How a laugh from you makes them all go crazy. How one little word can bring them to their knees."

"I don't want to know that! It's not real! If any of the men you play with would know how cold and cruel you are they wouldn't give you a second glance. How can you enjoy that? Knowing that they don't want _you_. Don't love _you_. It's just your voice. Without it, you would be nothing!"

Ley's usually beautiful features were now distorted by rage. Without hesitation she lashed out and slapped Kalli across the face.

"You worthless little…"

"I think this is the moment where you decide to pack your things and leave this house." Kalli held her hand to her throbbing cheek and looked to the door where Doru stood motionless, a plate filled with soup in his hands. Even from the distance she could see how white his knuckles were.

"You have nothing to say here!" Ley now yelled at Doru while she took a step away from Kalli.

"I have a lot to say if you're hurting my family, with words and physical attacks. I was taught never to hit a lady. You should leave now Ley, before I remember that you of all people are no lady."

Ley was about to retort something when she looked at something behind Doru and bit her lip.

"Fine. I'm leaving. But I promise you, they won't like what I'm going to tell them!" the promise was given to her sister and Kalli had no doub tthat _them_ were their parents. For once she hoped Ley misjudged them. Only when Doru made way for Ley to leave the room did Kalli see the Prince and Gregori stand behind him. So that was the reason for Ley's sudden acceptance. Doru noticed them at the same time and jumped slightly at their presence. The two men gave Doru a nod of appraisal and left the friends alone, probably to make sure that Ley would really leave.

When they were alone Kalli slowly sank back onto the bed.

"Thank you." She whispered when Doru came closer and put the plate on the nightstand.

"Let me look at that." He reached a hand to her face and gingerly touched the red handprint visible on Kalli's cheek.

"It's okay. I see it as a battle wound. Something to be proud of."

"I'm glad she is finally leaving!" Doru whispered as he pulled Kalli close for a hug. Kalli nodded weakly although her thoughts were darker.

'_I just wished I could believe this were over.'_ But she didn't dare speak that aloud.

"Are you training tonight again?" she asked him instead and Doru pulled away from the hug and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yes, I think I'm not that bad anymore, actually."

"That's good. Can I watch or…"

"Of course you can. Why would you even ask?" Kalli looked at the floor and shrugged, pulling the blanket over her legs to keep her warm.

"I had the feeling your uncle didn't like me being there the last time. I don't want to intrude if I'm not welcome." Two fingers lifted her chin until she looked into Doru's eyes.

"I want you there. Please come." Kalli nodded slowly and ushered Doru out of the room so she could dress herself. Doru left but not without reminding her to eat the soup. She needed her strength back after all.

***

Barely an hour later Kalli sat at the porch in front of the house, watching as Doru tried once more to change into an animal. And really, he did somehow manage to change into a wolf. Granted, it looked strange when he walked and his tongue hang out of his mouth like he was constantly grinning but it was a wolf. Kalli's eyes drifted from her best friend to his instructor and her heart became heavy. She didn't need Ley to tell her it couldn't be. She knew that herself. Knew it deep inside her aching heart. Kalli hastily looked away and bit her lip. Her heart was trying to cope with the emotion in the only way it knew. And singing out about her feelings right now was certainly not something Kalli wanted to do.

On the table next to her were a writing pad and a pencil. Without thinking about it Kalli grabbed them and started to write. She had to let it out somehow. Maybe it would be enough to write it down. She hoped so.

_One day you think, it all comes right  
__one day, believe fate will be kind  
__but if you wait one day too long  
__you'll lose what matters most, it will be gone  
__  
Oh, some are brave, but I'm not one of them  
__Oh, some speak up, but I have no voice  
__I want to dance, I want to sing for you  
__But I'm locked away inside my heart _

Kalli looked down at the words written on the pad, it felt strange to see them written down instead of just sing them aloud. But at least, that need seemed to be banished for now.

"I heard you were up again. How are you feeling?"

Kalli turned around to see Savannah standing next to the table. She was about to sign her that she was fine but then remembered that Savannah probably didn't know the sign language and turned to the notepad to write her answer down.

'_Better than I might look sitting here wrapped up like an egg that is about to break.'_ Savannah took a moment to read and then laughed aloud.

"Just wait until you're pregnant, we will talk about overprotective males then once again." Savannah took place at the other chair and looked at the notepad once more.

"This is good." Only then did Kalli realise that Savannah was reading the song she had written down on it. Her shock must have showed on her face. Savannah put a hand in front of her mouth and looked apologetic at her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have read it. It's personal." Kalli shook her head vehemently. It wouldn't do any good for anyone to actually know she was in love. She didn't want any pity.

"Actually I came down here to ask you for a favour. I can't seem to calm Ana down again. She is sleeping right now but I fear that she will wake up again any minute now. Do you think you could do this water trick once more for her? She was really calm during it and I think she would have stayed that way if she hadn't been worried about you."

'_I will try, of course, if you think it will help.' _Savannah thanked Kalli once she had read her reply and the two women headed back into the house. No sooner had the front door closed behind them than they heard the screaming of a baby.

Savannah hurried to the babies' room and Kalli followed behind her. When she entered the room Savannah was rocking the crying child in her arms.

"I don't know what is wrong with her. We've tried everything. But she is always crying."

Kalli looked at Savannah's tired face and reached her hand out to stroke over the baby's head. The fear of the child was surrounding the little girl like a giant bubble. But what surprised Kalli most was that it wasn't only Anastasia's own fear. She looked at the peacefully sleeping sister in the crib and frowned.

Savannah had sat down in an armchair, still rocking her child and speaking to her. Without thinking about it, Kalli kneed down next to mother and child and looked at Anastasia's little face.

"_Gentle gentle sing to your child  
Your companion for such a long long time  
Beneath your heart  
Her heart beats strong  
Life of your life  
Is safe in your arms"_

Savannah's mouth opened as her eyes widened but she kept herself from saying anything as Kalli continued to sing.

_"Touch her face  
You gave her form  
Child of this earth  
Child of the sky  
You are her voice  
She has your eyes  
This is her gift  
The thread of life_

Give her grace  
Give her peace  
Let her be strong  
Let her be kind  
She is your soul  
And you are her strength  
Bless her and guide her all of her life

Gentle gentle sing to your child  
Your companion for such a long long time  
Beneath your heart  
Her heart beats strong  
Life of your life  
Is safe in your arms"

When Kalli finished the last note Anastasia was smiling contently in her mother's arms, sucking on her little thumb.

"That was amazing!" Savannah managed to breathe out as her eyes moved from Kalli to Anastasia and back again.

"But why did you decide to speak, or rather sing, now?" Kalli shrugged and let her eyes drop to the floor. She knew she shouldn't have but there had been no harm done here, so she shouldn't feel so guilty.

"There are no men around to hear my voice. And to calm a distraught child is hardly a bad thing." Her eyes flew up to meet Savannah's again.

"She feels your fear as well. That is why she is so anxious. She is taking her sister's fear and your own and adds them to her own feelings in an attempt to protect her sister and mother."

"But she is so little, why would she…"

"She loves you and she feels your fear. You are afraid of doing something wrong although with all the love you and you mate share and feel for the children I don't know how you can be afraid of being anything but a wonderful mother."

"How can you see that so easily?"

"Emotions are flowing, like water. They surround us. Some people are harder to read than others, of course, but your baby is so full of your combined fears that it is hard to ignore it." Kalli looked at Savannah and felt the urge to help the other woman.

"You really shouldn't worry. That you love these two is obvious to anyone who sees you. There is nothing more they could ask of you. You are so surrounded by people who care for you and love you, and you must never forget that there is nothing more important. The greatest gift you can give them is your love. Everything will turn out alright then."

Savannah regarded Kalli silently for a moment before she spoke again.

"What you wrote outside on the note pad…"

"Is just stupid. Forget it." Kalli wouldn't have needed Savannah's raised eyebrows to tell her how implausible she sounded. The blood rushing to her cheeks against her will was more than enough proof of that.

"It's nothing really. Just a stupid crush. It will pass." Neither of the women could say whom she was trying to convince, herself or Savannah, but neither believed it.

"Kalli…"

"Here, let me show you something." Before Savannah could reply Kalli took her hand and closed her eyes, waiting for Savannah's feelings to become clear to her.

"Think of your daughters. Think of what you feel for them."

"What are you doing?"

"Creating your own lullaby which you can sing to them. It will be uniquely yours. Now just let your emotions go."

Kalli felt the love and protectiveness Savannah felt for her daughters swell up in the young mother and held onto them when she opened her mouth to sing.

"_I walked this land for all my life,  
so you would never cry.  
Protect your dream with all my heart,  
I'd swim the oceans wide._

_Yes, I would do what can't be done  
for you my precious one.  
Yes, I will do what can't be done  
for you my little one._

_I'd hold the sun right through the moon,  
so you would not feel pain.  
I'd travel far, catch you a star,  
I'd walk through fire and rain._

_Yes, I would do what can't be done  
for you my precious one.  
Yes, I will do what can't be done  
for you my little one"_

"That really _is_ beautiful."

"I will write it…."

"Kalli?!" Savannah worriedly watched the woman in front of her stop any and every movement, her eyes looking at something that wasn't even there. And while she called her name once more, the baby in her arms gurgled happily.

***

Doru lifted his head to the window as he heard the lullaby being carried to them by the wind. Even after all these years it still astonished him how beautiful Kalli's voice sounded.

"She's great, isn't she?" he asked proudly and turned to his uncle only to see him standing there as though he was in shock. Doru's gaze rose back to the open window before it fell on Damyan again.

"Oh no. Kalli will hate herself for this!" he cursed while his uncle made a shaky step towards the house.

* * *

Songs:  
"Locked inside my heart" - Rebecca Lavelle  
"Gentle, gentle" – Rebecca Lavelle  
"Kate's Lullaby" – Michala Banas all from the TV Show McLeod's Daughters

Now you may call me cruel for stopping there. :D


	8. Chapter 8

Do you remember how I used to say that I was several chapters ahead in writing compared to posting? Notice the past tense in this sentence? It took me weeks (literally) to write this chapter. If I was able to write something (not out for lack of time but sorely because I had no inspiration) I was glad if I managed a paragraph a day. I just hope it will get better now. And I hope the chapter is better than my working on it was. Hope you enjoy!

Oh, by the way, there is a song that goes very well with this chapter yet it didn't feel right to insert it in the chapter itself. If you want to listen to it (maybe run it in the background while reading this chappie) I found a video for it on youtube. Just paste watch?v=l_6DqDFewDc behind the com/ the song is "Sacred" from Sweetbox.

* * *

The colours and emotions the Siren had restored with her presence were gone. A part of him had been glad to see her go, the part that could no longer stand to listen to her self-centred bragging. The other part, the desperate one wished she had stayed. Even pale and subdued it had been fantastic to see and feel what he had seen and felt.

Now he was back to where he had started. He would hold on as long as he was able too for his nephew, but once he was ready, Damyan would only have one option left.

It was while he was wondering how long he _could_ hold out when it hit him. The feeling of having failed his family by giving up. The immense joy his heart was suddenly feeling at having found out his sister's son. And there was something else. A loneliness pushed aside to the back of his mind. No, not his mind. _Hers_.

Doru was saying something to him, he could hear his voice, but he couldn't understand the words he formed. And it didn't matter. All that mattered now was to go to her. It was impossible. He should have recognized her sooner! How was it possible that she had been staying there for days without him realising who she was? How was it that her presence hadn't restored his emotions and the colours in the world before? Or maybe…

'… _maybe it is just my voice. Like with Ley.' _

'_It's not!'_ he didn't know where the conviction suddenly came from. But he knew it. With all his heart he knew that she was the one he'd been waiting for centuries. And the pain he felt in her at the prospect of her voice causing the same illusion her sister's had created made him hurry his steps to the house. To her. To his lifemate.

Doru ran after Damyan, trying to stop him, but nothing he said seemed to reach his uncle's ear. Kalli would never forgive herself if she found out anyone had heard her voice. Doru couldn't bear to think about how she would feel. So he just continued to run after Damyan, hoping to prevent the worst from happening.

***

Kalli gasped as the onslaught of emotion washed over her. She knew they weren't her own. Horror filled her as she looked at the open window. She had not thought about the position of the room for a single moment. They were facing the meadow where Doru and Damyan were training. They had heard her. Damyan had heard her. And what was more shocking: she could hear him. Loud and clear inside her mind. Like Doru or Gregori when she had been sick and yet…different at the same time. She heard his thoughts, his surprise and doubt that maybe, maybe it was just her voice, the voice of a Siren that caused this. But just as soon as the thought crossed her mind was his voice there to reassure her that this wasn't the case. And she felt a determination in him to come to her and proof it.

She felt her heart reaching out to his as her mind was spinning trying to see where she stopped and he started. She rose to her feet and made several steps to the doorway when she felt Savannah's hand on her arm. Kalli turned around and looked into the worried face of the Carpathian.

"I… I have to go to him." A desperation she wasn't sure whom it belonged to seized her with just that very thought. Savannah's eyes widened for a moment, than understanding shone in them and she let go of Kalli's arm. Kalli had just reached the head of the stairs when she saw him waiting for her at the bottom of the very same.

It felt so unreal, standing there, just a few metres separating them. How could this be? How could he want someone as plain as her when he could have had Ley? Beautiful magnificent Ley. But she found that he didn't see her as so. Not Ley stood out in his mind, in his heart. Her sister was pale, hazy. But Kalli on the other hand…

How often had she looked into the mirror, turning this way and that, wondering if she would ever come close to her sister's beauty. And yet, if what she saw in Damyan's mind was true she was outshining her sister by far. He didn't see any imperfection in her, her eyes not a dull brown but a deep chocolate colour that seemed almost black, an endless opening that lead straight to her soul. And her hair, that unruly mess that could never decide what colour it was suddenly shone in a multitude of red and brown and black waves. She saw herself through his eyes and felt pretty for the first time. Not a weird freak that was wrong but the perfect combination of fire and water.

Her mouth ran dry as she met his eyes and saw the desire and longing in them. She didn't need to read in his mind to know what he felt. A shiver ran down her spine. Kalli opened her mouth and closed it again, unable to form the words to the whirlwind of emotions inside of her. Damyan's arm was outstretched, his hand raised with the palm up.

Kalli hesitated. She swallowed around the lump in her throat and licked her lips in an attempt to compose herself. It didn't work.

'_Kallianassa'_ her heart clenched together at the longing Damyan put into her name and any other thought she might have had fled from her mind. Without any further reluctance she hurried down the stairs and reached for his hand, enjoying the feeling of this simple gesture more than she had ever thought possible.

***

Doru's worry changed into confusion as he watched Kalli and Damyan at the stairs, standing there and just staring at each other. And no matter how often he called either of them, no one reacted to his voice, just as though he wasn't there at all.

"It's okay, don't worry about them." Doru looked up and saw Savannah standing behind Kalli.

"They act as though they are in a trance."

"They just found their lifemates, give them time. They will remember you sooner or later again." Savannah explained with a smile.

"Their… lifemates, but… oh…!" Doru's head snapped back to the stairs once he understood the meaning of Savannah's words. He watched as Kalli practically ran downstairs, and how Damyan pulled her closer to him as soon as her hand touched his. Kalli Damyan's lifemate? Doru wasn't sure what to make out of this.

"Just leave them alone for some time." Doru nodded slowly and made some uneasy steps back from the couple on the stairs as though they were a wild animal that he didn't want to alarm.

***

Damyan leaned his head down and inhaled his lifemate's scent from her hair. Her face was buried in his chest and he felt the turmoil of emotions in her mind as though they were his own. Or maybe they were. His left arm pulled her closer to his body while his right hand still held hers firmly in its grasp, as though he was afraid she might slip away from him. Everything in him screamed to claim her, both in word and deed. Yet he fought his need as long as he could. He wanted to be alone with her. Just the two of them so no one could disturb them.

Kalli lifted her face to meet his eyes and sent him a silent plea to move away form any prying eyes. Damyan felt her hesitation, her confusion about all those new emotions as well as her determination to follow these emotions nonetheless. His heart rejoiced at the last and without further delay he took her out of the house. First deeper into the forest, past the outposts of other Carpathian males, away from any prying eyes and to a small, secluded clearing which was interrupted by a stream that purled further into the forest.

Damyan was happy. He couldn't even remember when he had felt such a simple emotion as that. And yet here it was. Happiness. Until Kalli's thoughts brought a frown onto his face. She didn't meet his eyes, even tried to take a step away from him as fear suddenly seized her. And how unnecessary her fears were. Damyan wondered how she could ever doubt herself so much. He didn't like where her thoughts were heading at all. A low growl escaped his throat. He tried to soothe her mind as well as the beast that was starting to roar inside of him but Kalli flinched away from him.

Holding her close to him Damyan brought his right hand to her face and stroked her cheek with his knuckles. His forehead came down to rest against hers.

"Kalli." He whispered her name against her cheek before his lips followed his breath. A soft touch of his mouth on her skin. As light as a feather before he whispered her name again, and again and again while his lips travelled over her face, from her cheek to her chin and to the other cheek, to her ear before she wound her own arms around his neck and sought his body with her own.

***

The gurgling of the water and the whispering of the wind in the trees were familiar sounds in this suddenly unknown world for Kalli and she held onto them while she tried to forget. She had never believed it possible that this man would ever want her and now that she was actually in his arms she was afraid. Not of him. Never of him. But of disappointing him. She knew what he wanted, what she herself wanted as well and yet she wasn't sure she what it was exactly. How could she know it if she had only ever heard of it, never experienced it herself? How was she to look at Damyan again once he realised how lacking she was in that. Would he still want her when he found out that she had no experience at all at pleasing him?

All her life she had been staying away from humans and especially from boys. Doru being the only exception and Doru wasn't really counting as a boy to her. He was Doru. Now Kalli wished she had sought out the other sex. It wouldn't have been too hard to get a boy to kiss her. She had seen teenagers at parties making out quiet uninhibitedly. How hard could it have been…

A sound that escaped Damyan's throat stopped her mind in midthought. Shocked she remembered that he could see everything that went through her mind. The Dragon wasn't protecting her mind from him at all. Instead she left Kalli's mind wide open for him, not seeing an intruder but a part of Kalli that had always been missing in the Carpathian. Even Kalli's fears of being too innocent must have been obvious to him. Instinct took over and told Kalli to flee before he could laugh at her or mock her.

Yet instead of cruelty it was his love that surrounded her heart when he caressed her face. And when he spoke her name, making it sound so precious against her face, she wanted to weep. His lips on her cheek made her entire body tingle with expectation. She couldn't take it any more. How could she still hesitate? How could she still not embrace what he was offering her? Kalli's arms found their way over Damyan's chest up to his shoulders. Her fingers laced together behind his neck just as his lips reached her earlobe.

"I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give to you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my life mate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."

The words surrounded her very being and Kalli let her head fall back as in a silent offering. She bit her lip when she felt Damyan's lips on her neck, kissing her there, teasing the skin with his tongue. The bliss seemed to last an eternity before his teeth grazed her skin, gentle at first, as though waiting for some allowance from her.

Kalli's hands found their way into his thick hair and she pulled his head closer to her neck, giving him all the permission Damyan needed. She gasped at the sensation of her blood leaving her body. Her eyes were locked on the night sky looking up at the million of stars twinkling down on them. Her knees became weak and she knew that only Damyan's arms were holding her up. She clung to him as another whimper escaped her lips when Damyan's tongue licked over the spot on her neck which he had just left. Kalli's sense of time was completely lost by now. She couldn't tell how long he had drunk from her. It could have been a second or an entire century.

"Drink, Kalli." She didn't know how he had managed to take of his shirt without her noticing but somehow he had. And he had also somehow opened the skin above his heart. Along with the voice against her ear she heard his voice in her mind, luring her to his chest, to his heart, to his blood. Trying to overpower any revulsion she might feel at the thought of taking his blood. She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her throat. To think that he was trying to use compulsion on a Siren was just too funny. Telling him so in her mind she licked the trail of blood that was running down Damyan's chest until her lips covered the cut above his heart.

Kalli bit tenderly into the outlines of the cut, causing more blood to flow into her mouth. Damyan hissed upon her teeth touching his skin and he buried his head into her hair while he kneed down onto the grass, holding his lifemate tightly in his arms while she drank.

Only when she pulled back did Kalli notice that she was no longer standing. She felt his nose pressed against her head. She ran her finger over the cut on Damyan's chest and stopped the blood from flowing once she was finished. Her eyes wandered slowly up to his face, knowing exactly what would happen, wanting it herself and yet she couldn't help be afraid of it as well.

It wasn't hard to feel his want, his _need_ to take her completely and yet, when his lips met hers for the first time the touch was as light as a feather. She could feel him holding back, trying to be as gentle and careful with her as he could. Kalli knew he was trying to make her first kiss, her first … everything a memory as tender as he could.

Her heart practically sang at this revelation. Kalli leaned forward and pressed her lips harder against his. But instead of kissing her back Damyan pulled his head away with a moan.

"What… is something wrong? Did I…" for a moment she worried that she had done something stupid, something she wasn't supposed to do.

'_I don't want to hurt you.' _Damyan told her wordlessly.

'_I won't break from a kiss. I'm not made from glass, you know.'_

'_Kalli,'_ Damyan's right hand moved to cup her face.

"Kiss me." Kalli whispered against his lips. With a groan Damyan cupped her face in both of his hands and captured her lips once again. But the feathery touch of before was replaced by his need for her. His tongue stroke over her closed lips and Kalli opened herself willingly to him, her arms going up to hold onto his shoulders while their tongues met in a passionate dance. She sighed into his mouth, clinging to his body while she felt like falling. And indeed, she soon felt the soft grass against her back when Damyan lowered her onto the ground and covered her with his body, nestled between her opened legs.

Damyan's hands moved along her sides, stroking her waist and hips, her jeans-clad legs trembled under his touch. When his lips left hers Kalli let out a sound of protest until she felt Damyan kiss his way down her neck. His hands moved back to her waist and a fluttering started inside her stomach when he slowly moved her shirt up and exposed her bare skin underneath. The tips of his fingers took their sweet time to explore the naked flesh, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Without even noticing what she did Kalli raised her body from the ground and lifted herself to move against Damyan. Even through both of their layers of clothing she could feel his arousal. And she wanted to feel it closer.

Warm breath meth the top of her breasts, where the shirt didn't cover her when Dayman's lips kissed their way downwards from her collarbone. Kalli's hands wound into his dark hair and guided him lower. She wanted him to ease the aching inside. She cursed herself for not wearing a buttoned shirt. She wanted to feel his skin against her own now. But Damyan took his time exploring every millimetre of her upper body. He stopped kissing her when he reached the collar of her shirt and Kalli groaned in annoyance at her shirt. Damyan moved back to kiss her lips once more before he bent low and started to lick her navel.

"Oh god!" Kalli's head was thrown back, her hips lifted up from the ground, her hands buried in Damyan's hair. And Damyan felt a surge of heat wash over him as he watched his lifemate practically coming undone in his arms from such simple touches. His teeth graced her navel while he imagined her being completely naked underneath him. Kalli gasped and he knew she had seen what he intended to do with her. He stopped all movements and waited for her too look at him. Brown eyes opened slowly and looked dazed into his green ones. Her cheeks burned red when she licked her lips slowly, accepting, no, wanting what he had let her seen.

Without hesitation Kalli reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it off her body. Now her hands moved slower, her eyes locked with Damyan's, while she steadied herself on his shoulder with her left hand while her right moved in a teasing pattern to her bra. This time it was Damyan who moaned and Kalli bit her lips to hide her proud smile. It was intoxicating to be able to make a man like Damyan look at her like he did now. With such a hunger and longing. Encouraged by this she unhooked her bra and let it fall down.

A cold breeze touched her naked skin but the look in Damyan's eyes kept her from feeling cold at all. Kalli leaned back and rested her weight on her elbows, her hair falling over her shoulders and touched the ground. All but one stubborn strand that kept resting on her breast, hiding her nipple under its dark silk.

Like a predator he moved forward, his hands on each side of her while their faces came closer together.

'_You are so beautiful,'_ and his kiss showed her what he was unable to say even in their joined minds. Damyan's knuckles brushed gently over her breast, stroking the lonely strand away and baring her completely to his eyes.

'_So unbelievable beautiful. And mine,' _their lips touched again in a slow, tender kiss. Than he kissed her chin. A peek only. Then her neck, her collarbone, her breasts.

Kalli's head rolled back when Damyan closed his lips around her nipple and she let out a silent moan that only his mind could hear. Only with his fingertips did he touch her other breast, circling around her nipple, hardening it into a small pebble while he sucked and licked its twin. Damyan was burning inside. He needed to be closer to her than he was now. He groaned loudly when Kalli's hands dug into his shoulders.

Hot lips moved slowly from her breast to her stomach and all Kalli wanted was for them to move even farther south. She had never felt so alive. Or so carefree. As long as she was here the world could collapse around her. Kalli felt Damyan's smile against her stomach when he heard her thoughts. Resting her weight on shaking arms she pushed her upper body off the ground when Damyan unbuttoned her jeans and started to pull them down her legs, his eyes never leaving hers. Kalli's breath came out in short gasps and although it felt stupid she couldn't help blushing once she was completely naked in front of him.

His look melted her. His thoughts made her want to cry for joy. The wind rustled in the treetops around them and hit her bare skin, blowing her hair behind her.

She lay before him like a goddess of old, long forgotten times. Like the personification of the elements, surrounded by them as though they were paying homage to her. Damyan's mouth ran dry when he saw her like that.

"Damyan," her hand reached out to touch his face and Damyan savoured the sound of his name on her lips for the first time. He followed her outstretched hand and leaned in to kiss her. His right hand resting on her knee while his left moved farther to her hip. Kalli moaned softly when their lips touched and leaned forward to meet his mouth in a passionate kiss. Her heart soared. The dragon inside her had pulled completely back and left her mind wide open for him.

Kalli's hand ran from his cheek to his shoulder to keep herself from falling. She could feel Damyan's whole arm tremble when he moved his hand from her knee and let the fingertips slowly trail over the inside of her thigh. His lips never left hers while he moved closer to her centre. Finally it was Kalli herself who broke the kiss. She bowed her head and bit her swollen lower lip while her eyes followed his fingers. Heart beating loudly in her chest, breathing coming shallow, she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. Kalli's gaze never left Damyan's hand. Now it rested just before touching her _there_.

She wanted him to continue. He was so close to where she wanted – _needed_ – him.

"Please... don't stop now." she breathed onto his breast and her own fingers twitched in anticipation when Damyan reached out for her in slow motion. It was only the slightest touch yet it made her gasp at the electric jolt it sent through her body. Yes. This was what she had wanted. Damyan's fingers moved closer to the fire and Kalli's eyes flew close when he started stroking her.

Her hand tightened on his shoulder. Muscles in her body started to tense. Muscles she didn't even know she had. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to open her legs farther or squeeze them together. The fluttering in her stomach increased with each flick of Damyan's fingers. Before she knew it she broke apart. Or was whole for the first time in her life. She saw black and white and colours and couldn't think or speak and yet screamed out Damyan's name.

She couldn't remember how long she had been lost in her feelings. Damyan was there, holding her in his arms, his hand stroking her back. He was talking to her, in her mind and against her ear but she couldn't really make out any words. She could feel his heart beating beneath her hand. Kalli opened her eyes and looked nervously up at him. His lips met hers as soon as her head was lifted enough and Kalli gladly kissed him back.

The kiss was full of all those emotions they couldn't put in words right now and Kalli felt strangely powerful. Confident. Damyan followed her willingly when she lowered herself back onto the grass. It was only now that she noticed that Damyan was just as naked as she was. Heart in her mouth she let her hands run over his muscled stomach, looking at her naked lifemate in the moonlight.

Damyan kissed her temple while her fingers explored his body. His lips travelled south, over her cheek and her neck. Both of them gasped when her hand closed around him. He could feel her arousal and excitement as well as the slight uncertainty hovering underneath. He knew what she was afraid of and that her fear was unnecessary, he wouldn't let himself hurt her.

"Don't even think about it!" Damyan pulled his head back and looked down at the scowling woman underneath him.

"You will not take any part of this away from me."

"I won't let you hurt." Damyan argued but Kalli shook her head.

"You only hurt me when you try shielding me from it." Although Damyan couldn't follow her logic, he sensed that it was important to her. His instincts fought each other. He was to protect her, even from himself. He wasn't to hurt her in any way. But hurting her he would whatever decision he reached now.

Kalli felt his inner turmoil and took his face in her hands, pulling him closer and kissed him. And made the decision for him. She was completely lost in his touch. His hands ran all over her body, his lips travelled over her face and neck and breasts. She felt like swimming in the ocean. Completely free and weightless. Her body had a mind of its own and Kalli slung her legs around Damyan's hips the moment they became one. Damyan still hesitated before making her entirely his while their eyes were locked. He wanted to tear himself apart when he saw pain flicker in her gaze.

Soft lips against his chin took his mind off such thoughts and he shifted his weight so he wouldn't crush her. Another gasp escaped Kalli's lips and Damyan looked at her worried he had hurt her more. But hurt was the last emotion on her mind. Damyan moved again and took pleasure in his lifemate's excited joy. Her legs tightened around his body, her arms moved to his shoulders while they moved in unison on the grass.

Kalli hadn't thought that it was possible for something to feel better than Damyan's fingers inside of her had but she found out she had been wrong. This was pure bliss. And pure agony. She wanted to fall apart again and at the same time she wanted _this_ to go on forever. She knew she couldn't have both and she wasn't disappointed when she felt the ecstasy building up inside her to that welcome break down.

Her body threw itself against him, shivering uncontrollably in his arms when the orgasm hit her. Damyan's name on her lips and their ragged breathing breathing seemed to be the only sound in the forest. She was just about to come back to the world when Kalli felt Damyan move inside of her again. She vaguely remembered that she had fallen alone. His mind hadn't been lost like hers.

And neither did it the next time she threw her head back and screamed while the she rode the waves of her pleasure. Her body felt limb and yet she didn't want to stop this ever. Her mouth found Damyan's as soon as her heart had calmed down enough. She rejoiced at the feeling of him groaning into their kiss. And she rejoiced even more when she felt them reaching the peak together this time.

The wind rustled in the treetops, the water gurgled in the stream and a small animal scurried through the grass. Their heartbeats slowed down to a normal rate, their breathing became less hasty. Kalli moaned in protest when Damyan was about to move away.

_'I don't want to crush you.'_

_'You don't. Stay. I like to feel you so close. It makes me feel whole.'_

Damyan kissed her hair and tightened his arms around her. In one movement he turned to lay on his back, Kalli still safe in his arms.

It would always be like this, Kalli thought sleepily while she listened to the sounds of nature around her. The water's gurgle had always been able to lull her to sleep. To let her mind drift off to dreams.

"Damn, I forgot!" her voice broke the comfortable silence and she lifted herself up on her hands.

_'Kalli?'_

"I meant to talk to you, I mean all of you, about the water. We have to do something about it. These microbes are still in there. They won't just go away. They..."

_'Kalli. Calm down. We will work something out once we go back.'_ Damyan's hand ran through her hair and self-conscious Kalli thought how awful it must look right now, all tangled up and full of grass. A blush graced her cheeks and she felt Damyan's smile before she saw it.

_'You are beautiful. Always. Never doubt that.' _And as to prove her he pulled her back to him and kissed her again.

* * *

No, this is not the end. Far from it. But I won't be back until the 24th. I won't be home or even near a computer the next weekend, so not update until the Saturday after. Hope this chapter will manage to keep your interest until then.


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